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By
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
— Testimony in the pretrial hearing of Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused in the shooting rampage nearly a year ago at this massive Army post, could be postponed for another month after Hasan's attorneys made a last-minute request to delay the hearing until Nov. 8.
Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, one of three attorneys for Hasan, asked for the continuance Tuesday to "process some paperwork." Attorneys would not discuss the paperwork in open court and asked Col. James Pohl, the investigating officer serving as judge during the hearing, to close the courtroom to discuss the issue. When Pohl denied the request, defense attorneys asked to postpone the hearing until this morning to give them time to submit a written brief on the need for a continuance.
Prosecutors opposed the delay. Pohl is expected to rule on the motion when the hearing resumes at 9 a.m. today.
The first of dozens of witnesses was expected to begin testifying Tuesday about the shooting at the post's busy Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where 13 were killed and 32 were wounded Nov. 5. More than 120 media members from 40 outlets, including CNN and Al-Jazeera, gathered in the pre-dawn darkness hours before the hearing.
Inside the wood-paneled courtroom filled with computer monitors and television screens, a handful of relatives of victims sat on the stadium-style seating in the gallery, which accommodates about 30 onlookers.
Clad in a standard olive and beige camouflage Army uniform and a standard issue green knit cap, Hasan looked pale but alert as he was wheeled into the courtroom by a Fort Hood police officer after a lengthy delay while lawyers discussed the possible continuance. Although paralyzed from the chest down from bullet wounds received during the shooting, Hasan is able to move his arms and frequently touched his face during the hearing.
In past court appearances, a chilled Hasan has been wrapped in blankets, but he didn't use any Tuesday. His attorney has said he struggles to maintain his core body temperature because of the paralysis.
The Article 32 hearing is the first step in what many legal experts expect will result in a death penalty trial for Hasan. At the end of the hearing, which is scheduled to last at least four weeks, Pohl will recommend whether Hasan should face a court-martial. Fort Hood commanders will make the final decision on whether Hasan goes to trial and what penalty he will face.
Tuesday's request for a continuance is the latest in a string of delay petitions from Hasan's attorneys, who have complained that they have not received stacks of discovery evidence, including classified portions of investigations ordered by the White House after the shooting.
Hasan's civilian attorney, John Galligan, did not address the media after the hearing, as he has done after previous procedural hearings.
jschwartz@statesman.com; 912-2942 ||||| Army Col. James Pohl he told the defense it could put its arguments for the continuance into writing rather than air them in court. Defense attorneys did not want to explain their reasons publicly.
"I believe that would protect your client's interest," Pohl said, adding that he would "give you that option rather than discuss it in open court."
Pohl is acting as an investigating officer in an Article 32 hearing that will determine whether Hasan, an Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people and wounding dozens of others in a Nov. 5 shooting spree, goes to trial.
Often likened to a grand jury, Article 32 hearings are a routine first step toward trial. Pohl's task is to gather evidence and then tell commanders if a trial should be ordered.
Hasan's attorneys have called for continuances in previous hearings. They've unsuccessfully sought to close the hearing, citing heavy publicity they say threatens their client's fair-trial rights.
Paralyzed from the chest down, Hasan, 40, is charged with 13 specifications of premeditated murder and 32 specifications of attempted premeditated murder. The Army hasn't said whether it would seek the death penalty, but Hasan's lead attorney, retired Army Col. John Galligan, has insisted that's their goal.
Pohl ordered a recess until today after giving the defense the rest of the afternoon and evening to draft a brief explaining its reasons for seeking a continuance.
It is not clear if the defense's brief would be made public after Pohl's review. Neither Galligan nor other members of the defense team met with the news media, but retired Army Lt. Col. Tom Rheinlander, the post's chief spokesman, said the defense was given until midnight Tuesday to file its brief. He took no questions.
"The investigating officer will reconvene the meeting at 9 a.m. to hear arguments of the defense motion," he said.
sigc@express-news.net | – The trial of the Army psychiatrist accused in the Fort Hood shooting rampage may be delayed. A pretrial hearing at the military base's courtroom for Maj. Nidal Hasan was scheduled to begin yesterday, but the defense team asked for a month to "process some paperwork," finds the Austin American Statesman. The judge is considering the request and will rule on it today. The military hearing, known as an Article 32, is the first step in a process experts expect will end in a death penalty trial for Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people and wounding dozens more, notes the Houston Chronicle. Hasan, paralyzed from the chest down from bullet wounds he received during the rampage, did not speak during the hearing. Several relatives of the victims sat in the courtroom's public viewing area. | [
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Pls share and RT: Cyclist beware. We've had bikes stolen after being locked to sabotaged racks in # Camberwell pic.twitter.com/V4UHUEfvld ||||| Thieves saw through bike-racks, cover the cuts with tape, wait for bikes to be locked to them
PC Mark McKay, a police officer in Camberwell, London, tweeted this warning to locals to beware of bike racks that thieves have sawn through and camouflaged with gaffer tape; once the bikes are locked up, the thieves return, remove the tape, and make off with the bikes.
It's basically the principle at work in this magic gimmick, on a macro-scale. ||||| Image copyright Sarah King Image caption The cycle rack had been sliced through and then covered with tape to conceal the break
A cyclist who had her bike stolen after it was secured to a sabotaged bike rack has warned others about the "cunning" scam.
Sarah King found her cycle was missing from a rack in Camberwell on Thursday night following a meeting.
Ms King said she had not realised it had been cut through and then taped back together before she locked her bike to it.
Met Police are working with Southwark Council to investigate the theft.
Ms King, a Labour councillor, said it was the first time she had heard of a bike being stolen in such a way and wanted to warn others.
She said she was "upset and shocked" to find it missing as "I love cycling in London and I love my bike".
Her tweet warning cyclists about the scam has been retweeted nearly 2,500 times.
Councillor Darren Merrill, of Southwark Council, said: "It is appalling that the growing cycling population in the borough are being targeted by these cunning thieves." ||||| Thieves are apparently slicing through London's bike racks and taping them up to appear intact in a new ploy to steal bicycles.
Cyclists are being warned not to secure their bicycles to fixtures which have gaffer tape wrapped around them after the new trick came to light.
Thieves are cutting through metal racks and then temporarily repairing the fitting with tape to give the illusion the structure is in one piece.
But Sarah King, Labour councillor for South Camberwell, posted a picture on Twitter on Thursday evening showing how she had fallen prey to the latest scam in Camberwell at the junction of Camberwell Church Street and Vicarage Grove.
Alongside the photograph, she said: “Cyclists please watch out for gaffer tape on bike racks covering up that they’re cut straight through.”
Cyclists please watch out for gaffer tape on bike racks covering up that they're cut straight through pic.twitter.com/RRiJYVfnwV — Sarah King (@sezking78) February 25, 2016
After a cyclist secures their bicycle to the rack, the thief can then return to remove the tape and slide through the bicycle lock, allowing them to take the pedal cycle.
Cllr King told the Standard: "I love cycling and love my bike so I was really upset and I wanted to warn people what was going on. I think the cut was already there and was taped up so it was not visible."
She added when she returned to her bicycle, she initially was initially confused and thought she had left her bike elsewhere.
Cllr King said: "The tape had been pulled back but it was not until I pushed the var that I realised what had happened."
Cherry Allan, policy offer for CTC, told the Huffington Post: “The more publicity that can be given to this, the better. Greater awareness will help the local community and the police who patrol our streets to put an end to this crime.
“All cyclists need to be aware of this and watch out for any bike racks covered in gaffer tape which look suspicious, whether it is their bike at risk or someone else’s.
“Also, please be wary of buying a bike from an unofficial source that seems too good a deal to be true, in case it has been stolen." ||||| A Labour councillor for South Camberwell has revealed a cunning new trick being used by bike thieves.
Sarah King posted a picture on Twitter showing how thieves had found a way to beat bike locks - by rendering the cycling racks used to secure them to, ineffective.
Her picture, taken in Camberwell, shows a bike rack that thieves had cut through, then used gaffer tape to repair, allowing them to steal a bicycle by removing the rack, rather than having to remove the bike lock.
Cyclists please watch out for gaffer tape on bike racks covering up that they're cut straight through pic.twitter.com/RRiJYVfnwV — Sarah King (@sezking78) February 25, 2016
King wrote: "Cyclists please watch out for gaffer tape on bike racks covering up that they're cut straight through."
King said she had notified Labour councillor for Brunswick Park, Mark Williams, about the ploy and he had since asked Southwark Council to replace the bike rack.
A Metropolitan police spokeswoman said she hadn't heard of thieves using the new trick.
A spokesperson from London Cyclist said she had "never heard of them (thieves) doing that before", adding that it was "pretty depressing".
According to national cycling charity, CTC, hundreds of thousands of bicycles are stolen in England and Wales every year.
Between April 2014 and March 2015, there were 381,000 incidents of bike theft in England and Wales, it said, noting that there had been a "slight increase" recently.
However, CTC noted that "the good news is that over the long term", incidents of bicycle theft are now around 42% lower than in 1995.
Cherry Allan, Policy Officer for CTC said: “The more publicity that can be given to this, the better. Greater awareness will help the local community and the police who patrol our streets to put an end to this crime.
“All cyclists need to be aware of this and watch out for any bike racks covered in gaffer tape which look suspicious, whether it is their bike at risk or someone else’s. Also, please be wary of buying a bike from an unofficial source that seems too good a deal to be true, in case it has been stolen.”
Reaction to the picture has been one of reluctant admiration. | – London's bike thieves are getting extra crafty. On Friday, a police officer tweeted photos of a bike rack that had been sliced through and then taped back together to hide the cuts from the city's unsuspecting cyclists, per Boing Boing. Sarah King, a councilor for South Camberwell, tells the Evening Standard that she locked her bike to such a rack before a meeting in the London borough on Thursday. She returned to find her bike was missing and figured out the trick when she noticed the tape and gave a push. A police rep says she's never heard of the trick before, notes the Huffington Post, which describes collective online reaction as one of "reluctant admiration." Others are less impressed. "It is appalling that the growing cycling population in the borough are being targeted by these cunning thieves," another local councilor tells the BBC. "The more publicity that can be given to this, the better," a rep for a cycling charity adds. The lesson for cyclists, then: Beware public racks with tape. | [
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Flash flooding plagues Houston after heavy storms
Photo: HC Image 1 of / 48 Caption Close Image 1 of 48 Fences damaged by a possible tornado on Gaines Road near Bissonnet Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) Fences damaged by a possible tornado on Gaines Road near Bissonnet Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 2 of 48 A house near Sugar Land after it was hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. A house near Sugar Land after it was hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. Photo: (James Nielsen / Chronicle) Image 3 of 48 A home damaged by a possible tornado in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) A home damaged by a possible tornado in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 4 of 48 Umair Sayyed looks over damage by a possible tornado inside the home where his he lives with his family in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, near Sugar Land. Umair Sayyed looks over damage by a possible tornado inside the home where his he lives with his family in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, near Sugar Land. Photo: (James Nielsen / Chronicle) Image 5 of 48 A home damaged by a possible tornado in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) A home damaged by a possible tornado in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 6 of 48 Fences near Sugar Land were hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. Fences near Sugar Land were hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. Photo: (James Nielsen / Chronicle) Image 7 of 48 A house near Sugar Land after it was hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. A house near Sugar Land after it was hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. Photo: (James Nielsen / Chronicle) Image 8 of 48 Umair Sayyed looks over damage by a possible tornado inside the home where his he lives with his family in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, near Sugar Land. Umair Sayyed looks over damage by a possible tornado inside the home where his he lives with his family in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, near Sugar Land. Photo: (James Nielsen / Chronicle) Image 9 of 48 Cars try to turn onto the Highway 59 feeder lane at the Weslayan Street intersection as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Cars try to turn onto the Highway 59 feeder lane at the Weslayan Street intersection as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 10 of 48 Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 11 of 48 Cars stall Richmond Avenue near Buffalo Speedway as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Cars stall Richmond Avenue near Buffalo Speedway as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 12 of 48 Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 13 of 48 Metro Busses stay put as high water inundate the Richmond Avenue and Buffalo Speedway intersection as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Metro Busses stay put as high water inundate the Richmond Avenue and Buffalo Speedway intersection as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 14 of 48 Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 15 of 48 A pedestrian tries to navigte water as he crosses Buffalo Speedway at Richmond Avenue as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) A pedestrian tries to navigte water as he crosses Buffalo Speedway at Richmond Avenue as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 16 of 48 A SUV tries to get on Highway 59 near Weslayan Street as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) A SUV tries to get on Highway 59 near Weslayan Street as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 17 of 48 High water was reported in the Cimarron section of Katy. (Reader photo) High water was reported in the Cimarron section of Katy. (Reader photo) Image 18 of 48 A motorist walks through the median after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A motorist walks through the median after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 19 of 48 Stranded motorists who wish not to give their names talk beside the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Stranded motorists who wish not to give their names talk beside the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 20 of 48 A motorist walks through the median after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A motorist walks through the median after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 21 of 48 A car is seen submersed in water Northbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A car is seen submersed in water Northbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 22 of 48 A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 23 of 48 A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 24 of 48 High-water traffic jam at Westpark and Fondren around noon. High-water traffic jam at Westpark and Fondren around noon. Photo: (Houston TranStar) Image 25 of 48 A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 26 of 48 A stranded motorist sits in the median of the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A stranded motorist sits in the median of the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 27 of 48 Street flooding on Washington near Thompson streets. Street flooding on Washington near Thompson streets. Photo: (Cody Duty / Chronicle) Image 28 of 48 Rainy Monday, Jan. 9, 2012. (Anonymous reader photo) Rainy Monday, Jan. 9, 2012. (Anonymous reader photo) Photo: HC Image 29 of 48 Flooding on Westpark at Tanglewilde about 10:30 a.m. Flooding on Westpark at Tanglewilde about 10:30 a.m. Photo: (Houston TranStar) Image 30 of 48 Flooding at Highway 288 at the South Loop 610 around 10:30 a.m. Flooding at Highway 288 at the South Loop 610 around 10:30 a.m. Photo: (Houston TranStar) Image 31 of 48 Flights being rerouted around Bush Intercontinental Airport to avoid the storm. Click here to see it in real time. Flights being rerouted around Bush Intercontinental Airport to avoid the storm. Click here to see it in real time. Photo: (flightaware.com) Image 32 of 48 Power outage map at 10:30 a.m. Click here to see it in real time.
Power outage map at 10:30 a.m. Click here to see it in real time. Photo: (CenterPoint) Image 33 of 48 A car, one of six, sits stalled in the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Eastside Street after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston, which caused countless commuters to end up stranded in the high water. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) less A car, one of six, sits stalled in the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Eastside Street after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston, which caused ... more Photo: HC Image 34 of 48 A woman sits as she watches Houston firefighters try to free her car on Richmond Avenue and Wakeforest after her car got stuck in the mud as drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) less A woman sits as she watches Houston firefighters try to free her car on Richmond Avenue and Wakeforest after her car got stuck in the mud as drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on ... more Photo: HC Image 35 of 48 Motorists splash through high water at Alabama and Shepherd after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) Motorists splash through high water at Alabama and Shepherd after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 36 of 48 Spotts Park off of Waugh and Memorial Drive sits in several feet of water after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) less Spotts Park off of Waugh and Memorial Drive sits in several feet of water after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston ... more Photo: HC Image 37 of 48 With briefcase and a empty baby car seat in hand Alexander Veksler abandons his car at South Brasewood and Braewick Dr. in Houston, Tx. Heavy rains hit the Houston area , causing streets to flood Monday January 9, 2010. ( BILLY SMITH II / Houston Chronicle) less With briefcase and a empty baby car seat in hand Alexander Veksler abandons his car at South Brasewood and Braewick Dr. in Houston, Tx. Heavy rains hit the Houston area , causing streets to flood Monday January ... more Photo: HC Image 38 of 48 In a failed attempt to unclog a storm drain, Jack Peery wades into flood waters at South Brasewood and Braewick Dr. in Houston, Tx. Heavy rains hit the Houston area,causing streets to flood Monday January 9, 2010. ( BILLY SMITH II / Houston Chronicle) less In a failed attempt to unclog a storm drain, Jack Peery wades into flood waters at South Brasewood and Braewick Dr. in Houston, Tx. Heavy rains hit the Houston area,causing streets to flood Monday January 9, ... more Photo: HC Image 39 of 48 Luis Rodriguez and other friends help a stranded motorist out of high water in the intersection of Fondren and Harwin Drive as a heavy storm continues to move through the Houston area on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. less Luis Rodriguez and other friends help a stranded motorist out of high water in the intersection of Fondren and Harwin Drive as a heavy storm continues to move through the Houston area on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, ... more Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Image 40 of 48 A motorist stands in water near a stalled car on Washington Avenue during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) A motorist stands in water near a stalled car on Washington Avenue during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 41 of 48 A Houston fire truck sits stalled under a bridge on Houston Avenue during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) A Houston fire truck sits stalled under a bridge on Houston Avenue during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 42 of 48 A motorist drives through high water on S. Braeswood during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) A motorist drives through high water on S. Braeswood during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 43 of 48 An SUV sits in a flooded ditch during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) An SUV sits in a flooded ditch during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 44 of 48 Ana Rivers walks along the overflowing banks of Braes Bayou during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Ana Rivers walks along the overflowing banks of Braes Bayou during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 45 of 48 A motorist drives through high water along the feeder road of Southwest Freeway (59) and Stella Link Road as a heavy thunderstorm moves through the Houston area on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. A motorist drives through high water along the feeder road of Southwest Freeway (59) and Stella Link Road as a heavy thunderstorm moves through the Houston area on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Image 46 of 48 Motorist park on the pedestrian curb on the feeder road of Southwest Freeway (59) on the exit ramp of Stella Link Road to avoid getting stranded on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. Motorist park on the pedestrian curb on the feeder road of Southwest Freeway (59) on the exit ramp of Stella Link Road to avoid getting stranded on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Image 47 of 48 Cesareo Benitez looks below at the water level along the feeder of Southwest Freeway and Hillcroft exit where motorist have been stranded for two hours on the exit ramp as the storm moves through the Houston area on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. less Cesareo Benitez looks below at the water level along the feeder of Southwest Freeway and Hillcroft exit where motorist have been stranded for two hours on the exit ramp as the storm moves through the Houston ... more Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Image 48 of 48 Flash flooding plagues Houston after heavy storms 1 / 48 Back to Gallery
A strong storm front with heavy rain raced through the Houston region today, leaving behind so much water, it's completely shut down Texas 288 at the South Loop.
Much of the heaviest rainfall occurred before noon as the fast-moving storm pushed east quickly, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said as much as 4.5 inches of rainfall was recorded in some areas, especially south and southwest of the metropolitan area.
A tornado and hail were reported out in the Katy area, plus one wind gust of 60 mph was recorded near Highway 290 and the West Loop.
An apparent tornado tore portions of roofs off garages and homes as well as toppled wooden fences in a residential area near Bissonnet and Gaines near Sugar Land. One resident of a damaged home, 21-year-old Umair Sayyed, said he hid in a closet with his mother and 4-year-old sister as the storm rumbled through the area.
Another tornado reportedly touched down near FM 1093 at FM 723, near the Grand Parkway and Mason Road earlier this morning. Nickel-sized hail has been reported at Highway 99 and Fry Road, and bigger hail was seen in Wharton County earlier this morning.
More than a dozen freeway intersections were flooded this morning.
People in cars stalled in high water on roadways called 911 for rescue, said Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Lisa Campbell. Firefighters helped people get out of their cars and take them to safer areas. No injuries were reported.
Also, HFD had no reports of swift-water rescues.
Campbell said HFD ambulances and engines had trouble making emergency calls because of the high water and have been rerouted around flooded areas. One engine stalled in high water on Houston near Washington in a low area.
CenterPoint Energy reported power outages affecting about 19,600 customers earlier today.
FuelFix.com is reporting that areas inside Loop 610 were hardest hit, particularly between Texas 288 and I-45, according to an outage-tracking map updated by CenterPoint every 15 minutes.
There was a cluster of outages in South Houston as well.
A flash flood warning was in effect for Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, Fort Bend and Harris counties until 2 p.m.
In Richmond, people were evacuated by boat from areas near downtown, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office. The Richmond Police Department could not be reached for comment.
Flooded streets forced Metro to reroute some buses and the Metro Rail service in downtown is limited because of water on the tracks. Light rail service is limited to the Downtown Transit Center and the Preston Station on Main Street.
The Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management has upgraded his readiness level in response to the severe weather.
The Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center activated the first stage of its flood response plan late Monday morning after monitoring bayou levels. Spokeswoman Stephanie Asin said the loading docks and the valet parking station at the neurosensory center have been closed.
Several parking garages in the Texas Medical Center have been closed because of high water.
Alexa Enriquez, a spokeswoman for the medical center, said Parking Garage 1, 7 and 15 have been closed. Entrances to those garages were closed when water in the Box Culvert off Braes Bayou reached 10 feet earlier Monday morning; Enriquez said the exits were closed when the water level reached 14 feet. They will reopen when the water recedes, she said.
The forecast
After today's storms, the area is expected to dry out quickly and a cold front is expected to hit later this week, dropping temperatures to near freezing.
At least four inches of rain has been recorded in Livingston since midnight Sunday.
Monday in the Houston area the heaviest downpours and thunderstorms are expected in the afternoon as the storm moves through the region. Forecasters said some spots could record up to about three inches of rainfall but most areas will receive about one inch.
The high temperature will top out at 71 under cloudy skies. The overnight low will be about 51. South winds will be between 5 mph and 15 mph. A 100 percent chance of rain is likely.
The area dries out and cools down slightly Tuesday, when rain chances drop to 20 percent. The high will be about 59 degrees under partly sunny skies. The low will be about 42. West winds will be about 15 mph with gusts up to 20 mph.
Sunny skies are expected Wednesday as the Norther, packed with Canadian air, approaches the region. The high will be about 67 degrees before the front arrives, but drops to 44 at night as the front moves closer.
The high will struggle to about 55 degrees Thursday under cloudy skies after the front hits. The overnight low will be about 33 when the cold air settles in the region. Some spots north of Houston near Huntsville and Conroe could see the mercury dip to freezing.
Friday is likely to be sunny with a high near 54 degrees. The low will be near 39.
Temperatures climb on the weekend. The high Saturday will be about 59 under mostly sunny skies. The low will be near 45.
Clouds build above the region Sunday as another storm system approaches the area. The high will be about 63. Forecasters said it to early to determine if the storm will bring rain.
dale.lezon@chron.com
Chronicle photographer James Nielsen, reporter Jeannie Kever, web producer Laura Weisman, and The Associated Press contributed to this report ||||| Richard Carson / Reuters This vehicle was among the dozens stranded in high water across Houston on Monday.
Torrential rain, flooding that cut off highways and even suspected tornadoes gave the Houston area major weather headaches on Monday.
The Mall of the Mainland in Texas City had to close after damage from a suspected twister Monday afternoon. It was unclear if there were any injuries.
"The structural integrity of the building has been compromised," Texas City Fire Chief Joe Gorman was quoted by the Houston Chronicle as saying.
Several homes closer to Houston were damaged by another suspected twister.
"All the doors in the house were trying to open and shut. It sounded like a train going through, so we hid in the closet," Beverly Moore was quoted by KPRC TV as saying. "It was definitely a tornado. We hid for about 15 minutes."
Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle via AP This intersection in Houston, at Buffalo Speedway and Richmond Avenue, saw plenty of heavy rain Monday.
The deluge from the system closed down a stretch of Texas State Highway 288 for most of the day. A dozen other freeway intersections in the Houston area also saw flooding and rainfall of more than four inches in just a few hours.
"Between 9 a.m. and about noon today the Houston police department had 51 active flood locations with flooding reports and that’s all over the city in city streets,” the Chronicle quoted city spokesman Michael Walter as saying.
The suburb of Sugar Land got more than six inches of rain.
The storm cut power to nearly 20,000 utility customers at its peak, and officials reported numerous water rescues of people stranded in homes or cars.
Houston, like most of Texas, has seen drought conditions for most of the last year and Monday's storm isn't expect to help much on its own. Any sustained recovery will require a long stretch of rain, forecasters say.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: | – A deluge of heavy rain, wind, tornadoes, and nickel-sized hail is giving Houston-area residents a major headache today, the Houston Chronicle reports. A fast-moving storm front pummeled the city with winds reaching 60mph and up to 4.5 inches of rain, shutting part of Highway 288 and flooding a dozen other freeway intersections. Apparent twisters ripped roofs off of houses and garages in one residential area and damaged a mall in nearby Texas City, MSNBC reports. No injuries have been reported, but firefighters struggled to rescue people trapped inside cars on flooded roadways, and several Richmond residents were evacuated by boat. About 19,600 Houston-area residents are without power. The area forecast offers a mixed bag, with dry weather rolling in and near-freezing temperatures descending later this week. | [
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The study looked at premium quotes for liability insurance, which covers bodily injury and property damage and is required in nearly all states. It also examined several years of data on average claims paid out in every ZIP code in the four states. ProPublica, an investigative news organization, said it submitted freedom of information requests to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and just those four said they collected such data.
The insurance industry and some state regulators criticized the report, saying it oversimplified the way companies set rates. Insurance companies “do not discriminate on the basis of race,” James Lynch, chief actuary of the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group, told the researchers.
In a call with reporters on Wednesday, Mr. Lynch said the institute had commissioned its own actuarial analysis of ProPublica’s data and determined that the conclusions drawn from the study were “flawed.” The institute did not make its analysis available because it was in draft form, he said, but expected to make it available when the report was completed.
“This is a very, very serious charge being made on a very weak study,” he said. Asked if the discrepancies could result from an unintended consequence of the formulas used to set rates, Mr. Lynch said, “There is no unfair discrimination, intentional or unintentional.”
Because individual insurers do not publicly release their losses on a ZIP code level, the analysis is based on aggregated losses by insurers. The California Department of Insurance dismissed that approach as “flawed,” the report said, saying an individual insurer’s losses in a given area may vary significantly from the industry average.
ProPublica said that while a given company’s losses could deviate from average losses experienced by insurers, it was “unlikely” that the differences would result in a consistent pattern of higher prices for minority neighborhoods.
The report resonated with consumer advocates. “I’m not surprised” by the findings, said Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America. The federation has conducted a series of studies raising questions about the fairness of using nondriving criteria, like education and occupation, in setting auto insurance rates. In 2015, the federation published a study finding that rates are much higher in minority ZIP codes.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
The federation’s studies did not include insurer payout data, which is “good addition” to the analysis, Mr. Hunter said.
Fairness in setting auto insurance rates is crucial, he said, because liability coverage is usually mandatory and because people rely on their cars to get to work. Since insurance is regulated primarily by states, he urged consumers to contact their state insurance regulators to ask them to examine the fairness of rate-setting practices. Contacts by state are available at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website.
Here are some questions and answers about car insurance rates:
How can I find more affordable rates on my car insurance?
Individuals must aggressively comparison shop, experts say. Consumer Reports suggests using TheZebra.com, an online tool that offers estimates from a dozen or more insurers, depending on the state. Drivers should compare rates often, said Tobie Stanger, a senior editor at the magazine, because the supposed benefit of getting a discount by remaining with the same insurer for a long time is “mostly a myth.”
Typically, one or two insurers will offer lower rates in a given state. The magazine’s website offers a list of which insurers to check first, by state.
Can I lower my auto premium by raising my policy’s deductible?
Yes. Increasing your deductible — the amount you must pay before your insurance policy does — can help lower monthly premiums. Just be aware that if you have a claim, you will be responsible for more of the cost of any repairs.
What if I don’t drive very much?
Mr. Hunter said he considered mileage to be an “underreflected characteristic” in setting auto insurance rates, but some insurers are starting to weigh it more heavily. So if you don’t drive much, you might be able to lower your premium. So-called pay-per-mile policies from Metromile, for instance, charge a monthly base premium, plus an additional rate based on the number of miles you drive each month. The company installs a device in your car to track mileage. ||||| This is a set of web collections curated by Mark Graham using the Archive-IT service of the Internet Archive. They include web captures of the ISKME.org website as well as captures from sites hosted by IGC.org.These web captures are available to the general public.For more information about this collection please feel free to contact Mark via Send Mail ||||| Otis Nash works six days a week at two jobs, as a security guard and a pest control technician, but still struggles to make the $190.69 monthly Geico car insurance payment for his 2012 Honda Civic LX.
“I’m on the edge of homelessness,” said Nash, a 26-year-old Chicagoan who supports his wife and 7-year-old daughter. But “without a car, I can’t get to work, and then I can’t pay my rent.”
Across town, Ryan Hedges has a similar insurance policy with Geico. Both drivers receive a good driver discount from the company.
Chicago Area Disparities in Car Insurance Premiums Some car insurers charge higher premiums in Chicago’s minority neighborhoods than in predominantly white neighborhoods with similar risk of accidents. See the map.
Yet Hedges, who is a 34-year-old advertising executive, pays only $54.67 a month to insure his 2015 Audi Q5 Quattro sports utility vehicle. Nash pays almost four times as much as Hedges even though his run-down neighborhood, East Garfield Park, with its vacant lots and high crime rate, is actually safer from an auto insurance perspective than Hedges’ fancier Lake View neighborhood near Wrigley Field.
On average, from 2012 through 2014, Illinois insurers paid out 20 percent less for bodily injury and property damage claims in Nash’s predominantly minority zip code than in Hedges’ largely white one, according to data collected by the state’s insurance commission. But Nash pays 51 percent more for that portion of his coverage than Hedges does.
For decades, auto insurers have been observed to charge higher average premiums to drivers living in predominantly minority urban neighborhoods than to drivers with similar safety records living in majority white neighborhoods. Insurers have long defended their pricing by saying that the risk of accidents is greater in those neighborhoods, even for motorists who have never had one.
But a first-of-its-kind analysis by ProPublica and Consumer Reports, which examined auto insurance premiums and payouts in California, Illinois, Texas and Missouri, has found that many of the disparities in auto insurance prices between minority and white neighborhoods are wider than differences in risk can explain. In some cases, insurers such as Allstate, Geico and Liberty Mutual were charging premiums that were on average 30 percent higher in zip codes where most residents are minorities than in whiter neighborhoods with similar accident costs.
Our findings document what consumer advocates have long suspected: Despite laws in almost every state banning discriminatory rate-setting, some minority neighborhoods pay higher auto insurance premiums than do white areas with similar payouts on claims. This disparity may amount to a subtler form of redlining, a term that traditionally refers to denial of services or products to minority areas. And, since minorities tend to lag behind whites in income, they may be hard-pressed to afford the higher payments.
Rachel Goodman, staff attorney in the American Civil Liberties Union’s racial justice program, said ProPublica’s findings were distressingly familiar. “These results fit within a pattern that we see all too often — racial disparities allegedly result from differences in risk, but that justification falls apart when we drill down into the data,” she said.
“We already know that zip code matters far too much in our segregated society,” Goodman said. “It is dispiriting to see that, in addition to limiting economic opportunity, living in the wrong zip code can mean that you pay more for car insurance regardless of whether you and your neighbors are safe drivers.”
The Insurance Information Institute, a trade group representing many insurers, contested ProPublica’s findings. “Insurance companies do not collect any information regarding the race or ethnicity of the people they sell policies to. They do not discriminate on the basis of race,” said James Lynch, chief actuary of the institute.
Look Up Your Premium vs. Your Risk If you live in California, Illinois, Missouri or Texas, search for your zip code to see quotes from different insurers for liability coverage for a 30-year-old woman who is a safe driver.
The impact of the disparity in insurance prices can be devastating, a roadblock to upward mobility or even getting by. Auto insurance coverage is required by law in almost all states. If a driver can’t pay for insurance, she can face fines for driving without insurance, have her license suspended and eventually end up in jail for driving with a suspended license. Higher prices also increase the burden on those least able to bear it, forcing low-income consumers to opt for cheaper fly-by-night providers, or forego other necessities to pay their car insurance bills.
Otis Nash, 26, struggles to pay his $190 monthly premium to insure his Honda Civic in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago. But, he says, “without a car, I can’t get to work, and then I can’t pay my rent.” (Alyssa Schukar, special to ProPublica)
It isn’t completely clear why some major auto insurers persist in treating minority neighborhoods differently. It may in part be a vestige of longstanding practices dating back to an era when American businesses routinely discriminated against non-white customers. It’s also possible that the proprietary algorithms used by insurers may inadvertently favor white over minority neighborhoods.
We have limited our analysis to the four states that release the type of data needed to compare insurance payouts by geography. Still, these states represent the spectrum of government oversight of the insurance industry. California is the most highly regulated insurance market in the U.S.; Illinois, one of the least regulated. In addition, some insurers whose prices appear to vary by neighborhood demographics operate nationally. That raises the prospect that many minority neighborhoods across the country may be paying too much for auto insurance, or white neighborhoods, too little.
This investigation marks the first use of industry payout data to measure racial disparities in car insurance premiums across states. It’s part of ProPublica’s examination of the hidden power of algorithms in our lives — from the equations that determine Amazon’s top sellers to the calculations used to predict an individual’s likelihood of committing future crimes.
Read the Methodology Here's how we examined racial discrimination in auto insurance prices. Read more. You can also download the data and code underlying the project.
Our analysis examined more than 100,000 premiums charged for liability insurance — the combination of bodily injury and property damage that represents the minimum coverage drivers buy in each of the states. To equalize driver-related variables such as age and accident history, we limited our study to one type of customer: a 30-year-old woman with a safe driving record. We then compared those premiums, which were provided by Quadrant Information Services, to the average amounts paid out by insurers for liability claims in each zip code.
In California, Texas and Missouri, our analysis is based on state data that covers insurance claims received, and payouts by, the state’s insurers over the most recent five-year period for which data was available. In Illinois, the data covers a three-year period. We defined minority zip codes as having greater than 66 percent non-white population in California and Texas. In Missouri and Illinois, we defined it as greater than 50 percent, in order to have a sufficiently large sample size.
In all four states, we found insurers with significant gaps between the premiums charged in minority and non-minority neighborhoods with the same average risk. In Illinois, of the 34 companies we analyzed, 33 of them were charging at least 10 percent more, on average, for the same safe driver in minority zip codes than in comparably risky white zip codes. (The exception was USAA’s Garrison Property & Casualty subsidiary, which charged 9 percent more.) Six Illinois insurers, including Allstate, which is the second largest insurer in the state, had average disparities higher than 30 percent.
While in Illinois the disparities remained about the same from the safest to the most dangerous zip codes, in the other three states the disparities were confined to the riskiest neighborhoods. In those instances, prices in whiter neighborhoods stayed about the same as risk increased, while premiums in minority neighborhoods went up.
In Missouri and Texas, at least half of the insurers we studied charged higher premiums for a safe driver in high-risk minority communities than in comparably risky non-minority communities. And even in highly regulated California, we found eight insurers whose prices in risky minority neighborhoods were more than 10 percent above similar risky zip codes where more residents were white.
Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood is safer from an auto insurance perspective than the more affluent Lake View neighborhood. But a ProPublica analysis shows that a safe driver here is likely to pay more than in Lake View. (Alyssa Schukar, special to ProPublica)
Judging by how much insurers have had to pay out for accident claims in their Chicago neighborhoods, Nash should be paying less than Hedges, not more.
Over a three-year-period, Illinois insurers have paid out about $172 per car each year in bodily injury and property damage claims in Nash’s zip code, 60612, according to data collected by the state insurance commission. That’s 20 percent less than the $216 per car that insurers paid out for similar claims in Hedges’ zip code, 60657.
But the liability premiums charged by Nash’s insurer, Geico Casualty, in those two neighborhoods actually give a discount to the riskier white neighborhood. In Nash’s neighborhood, Geico charges $409 for annual liability coverage for a 30-year-old woman who is a safe driver, according to insurance quotes provided by Quadrant. In Lake View, Geico charges $338 for the same coverage for the same driver.
For the liability portion of their Geico coverages, Nash is paying $831.34 annually, while Hedges is paying just $549.58, according to their records. Hedges pays less even though he bought higher coverage limits for bodily injury, and his Audi is worth about three times as much as Nash’s Honda. A Geico filing in Illinois indicates that it charges more to insure an expensive car than a cheap one.
Nash said he is accustomed to seeing his neighborhood shortchanged. “When you go to the richer neighborhoods, the red light cameras kind of go away,” he said. “That system is kind of designed for you to fail.”
Geico did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The disparities persist even in affluent minority neighborhoods. Consider Pernell Cox, a Los Angeles businessman who lives in a wealthy enclave in South Los Angeles sometimes referred to as the “Black Beverly Hills.” His insurer Safeco, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, charges 13 percent more for a 30-year-old female safe driver in his neighborhood than in a zip code with comparable risk in Woodland Hills, a predominantly white suburb in north Los Angeles.
“I was surprised by the magnitude” of the price difference, Cox said.
Cox then shopped around and realized he could save nearly $400 a year by switching to Allstate for his two Mercedes-Benzes.
Liberty Mutual, the parent company of Safeco, told ProPublica it is committed to offering drivers “competitively priced car insurance coverage options.”
Individual insurers don’t publicly release their losses on a zip-code level, and have long resisted demands for that level of transparency. As a result, our analysis is based on aggregated losses experienced by almost all insurers in a given zip code in California, Illinois and Missouri, and by 70 percent of insurers in Texas.
The California Department of Insurance criticized this approach. It disputed ProPublica’s analysis and findings on the grounds that an individual insurer’s losses in a given zip code may vary significantly from the industry average. “The study’s flawed methodology results in a flawed conclusion” that some insurers discriminate in setting rates, it said.
To be sure, it’s possible that some insurers have proprietary data that justifies the higher premiums we found in minority neighborhoods. Moreover, in any given zip code, an individual insurer’s losses could differ from the average losses experienced by insurers. But it is unlikely that those differences would result in a consistent pattern of higher prices for minority neighborhoods.
Consider the internal losses that Nationwide disclosed in a 2015 rate filing in California. We compared Nationwide’s premiums charged by Nationwide’s Allied subsidiary to Nationwide’s losses and found that minority zip codes were being charged 21 percent more than similarly risky non-minority zip codes — a greater disparity than the 14 percent we found when comparing Allied premiums to overall state risk data.
The Illinois Department of Insurance also criticized ProPublica’s report. “We believe the methodology used in this report is incomplete and oversimplifies the comparison of rates in minority vs. non-minority neighborhoods,” said department spokesman Michael Batkins.
The Texas Department of Insurance said that it was reviewing ProPublica’s analysis. “It’s important to us that rates are fair to all consumers,” said department spokesman Jerry Hagins. The Missouri Department of Insurance did not respond to repeated inquiries.
Many insurers did not respond to our questions. Those that did generally disputed our results and said that they do not discriminate by race in rate setting. Eric Hardgrove, director of public relations at Nationwide, said it uses “nondiscriminatory rating factors in compliance with each state’s ratemaking laws.” He did not respond to inquiries about our analysis of Nationwide’s internal losses in California.
Roger Wildermuth, spokesman for USAA, said that its premiums reflect neighborhood conditions. “Some areas may have slightly higher rates due to factors such as congestion that lead to more accidents or higher crime rates that lead to higher auto thefts,” he said.
Insurers have long cited neighborhood congestion as a factor in their decision-making. In 1940, a young lawyer named Thurgood Marshall wrote to a friend that he had been denied auto insurance by Travelers. When Marshall complained to the company, he was told that “the refusal was on the basis of the fact that I live in a ‘congested area,’ meaning Harlem, and ‘not’ because I am a Negro.”
Marshall, who later argued and won the landmark school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education and went on to become a Supreme Court justice, concluded, according to his letter, that, “it is practically impossible to work out a court case because the insurance is usually refused on some technical ground.”
In Marshall’s day, redlining was often defined by refusal to provide loans, insurance or other services in minority neighborhoods. But as those practices became public and controversial — due in part to Marshall’s activism as an attorney for the NAACP — insurers stopped asking applicants to identify their race.
In the 1940s, as part of a bargain to win an exemption from federal antitrust laws, the insurance industry agreed to be regulated by state laws that included prohibitions against discriminatory rate setting. Soon after, following model legislation recommended by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, most states passed laws stating “rates should not be inadequate, excessive or unfairly discriminatory.” The legislation defines discrimination as “price differentials” that “fail to reflect equitably the differences in expected losses and expenses.”
Of course, the laws didn’t immediately stop discrimination. In a thorough examination of MetLife’s history released in 2002, New York state insurance regulators catalogued all of the ways that the company discriminated against black applicants for life insurance — dating back to the 1880s when it refused to insure them at all, to the first half of the 20th century when it required minorities to submit to additional medical exams and sold them substandard plans.
In the 1960s, as insurers stopped asking applicants to declare their race, MetLife began dividing cities into areas. In minority areas, applicants were subject to more stringent criteria, according to the report. In 2002, MetLife agreed to pay as much as $160 million to compensate minorities who were sold substandard policies.
In the auto insurance industry, similar practices occurred. To this day, most auto insurers base premiums in part on “territorial ratings,” derived from the risk of the area where the car is garaged.
The territorial ratings are “a way of taking into account the conditions under which you are driving,” said David Snyder, a vice president at the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.
This geographic pricing means that the same driver may be charged different rates depending on the part of town in which he or she lives.
In 1978, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn pleaded with Congress to rectify the stark inequities of territorial ratings. He said the same good driver would pay over $900 if he lived in Watts, a poor black neighborhood, and just $385 if he lived in predominantly white San Diego County.
“They are being ripped off by the biggest companies in America,” Hahn testified.
But Congress didn’t act.
View Park, sometimes called the "Black Beverly Hills," is an affluent neighborhood in South L.A. ProPublica's analysis shows that some auto insurers charge more in predominantly minority View Park than in the largely white suburb of Woodland Hills, even though the neighborhoods have similar accident costs. (Kendrick Brinson for ProPublica)
Bill Corley, who is African American, started his career as a Farmers Insurance agent in West Los Angeles in 1977. He said the discrimination wasn’t obvious on the surface. “Officially, you could write insurance anywhere you wanted to write insurance,” he recalled. But, Corley said, if you had too many clients in low-income areas, Farmers executives “would tell you all the problems that could be associated with that, and you were scared off and intimidated from doing so.”
When he sold insurance in minority neighborhoods, Corley said, the Farmers managers “would nitpick it. They would ask you questions about people’s income levels and questions about neighboring properties — which I don’t really recall ever having to address when I was writing policies in other neighborhoods in the city.” Farmers did not respond to repeated inquiries.
Corley persisted, and eventually established a network of independent minority insurance brokers who worked together to persuade leading insurers to make them agents and sell policies through them. Corley, who now works as an independent insurance agent with offices in San Diego and San Jose, said the increased diversity of agents has improved the business. “Agents and brokers were complicit, and helped to perpetuate redlining, by not making an effort to write policies in those areas,” he said.
Today, some insurers consider other factors beyond the risk of accident payouts in setting rates. Such criteria as credit score and occupation have been shown to result in higher prices for minorities.
Allstate is implementing a new method for tailoring rates to “micro-segments” that appear to be as small as an individual policyholder — a method referred to in the industry as price optimization.
More than a dozen states have set limits on insurers’ use of price optimization, expressing concerns that the technique allows insurers to raise premiums on customers who don’t shop around for better rates. In 2014, for instance, the Maryland Insurance Administration banned price optimization, saying it results in rates that are “unfairly discriminatory.” (In this context, discrimination refers to any pricing that is not related to risk; the effect on minority neighborhoods has not been studied.)
Allstate has disclosed in filings that it is using price optimization in at least 24 states, including Illinois, Missouri and Texas. Allstate spokesman Justin Herndon said the company “uses the likelihood of loss to price insurance which is required by law and specific prices are approved by state regulators.”
In California, when insurers set rates for sparsely populated rural zip codes, which tend to be whiter, they are allowed to consider risk in contiguous zip codes of their own choosing. Often, the companies group these zip codes with similar areas that also have few policy-holders, according to insurers’ rate filings. They then assign lower risk to the entire region than appears to be warranted by the state’s accident data.
However rates are calculated, auto insurance remains unaffordable in many predominantly minority areas of the nation, according to an analysis by ProPublica of U.S. Census data and 30 million auto insurance quotes.
We found that households in minority-majority zip codes spent more than twice as much of their household income on auto insurance (11 percent), compared with households in majority white neighborhoods (5 percent). The U.S. Treasury Department has defined auto insurance as affordable if it costs 2 percent or less of household income.
Consider Kelley Jenkins, a 39-year-old mother of three who lives on Chicago’s South Side. When she was laid off from an office job last summer, she tried to make ends meet by driving for Uber and Lyft. But after two months of sporadic driving, when she was sometimes making only $100 or $200 a week, she couldn’t afford to keep up her $112 monthly auto insurance payments. “I was in a major struggle,” she said.
When she gave up her auto insurance, she lost her driving gigs. Luckily, she soon found a job as a security guard. But she still can barely afford auto insurance, so she bought a bare bones plan from a low-cost insurer.
Jenkins said she would love to get insurance from one of the brand-name companies, but every time she calls for a quote, she realizes, “Oh no, I can’t afford it.”
Over the years, efforts to investigate redlining in car insurance have repeatedly been stymied by the same barrier: the industry’s refusal to make crucial data available.
After the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles in 1992, when people took to the streets to protest the acquittal of policemen who had been filmed beating a black driver, it turned out that about half of an estimated $1 billion in losses from destroyed businesses and homes were not covered by insurance.
California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi blamed discriminatory practices by the nation’s insurance companies. Touring the battered ruins of the city a month after the riots, he told a New York Times reporter, “I am convinced redlining exists. The bottom line is either you can’t get or can’t afford it.”
Garamendi subsequently approved rules that required insurers to report their market share by zip code. But insurers argued that the data was a trade secret that couldn’t be released to the public. It wasn’t until 2004, after years of legal battles, that insurers lost their case in California Supreme Court.
GEICO Casualty Company Premiums in Illinois Plots showing a the average difference for GEICO Casualty Company premiums for minority zip codes compared to white zip codes in Illinois at increasing levels of risk.
Also spurred by the Los Angeles riots, several Congressional committees held hearings and began studying the issue of redlining, but were stymied by lack of data. The U.S. General Accounting Office, now known as the U.S. Government Accountability Office, reported in 1994 that an analysis of insurance availability would require insurance companies to begin reporting data at zip code or census tract level nationwide. “Currently available data are insufficient to determine the extent of current problems,” the report stated.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners also set up a committee to investigate redlining. It didn’t get the necessary data, either.
Robert Klein, who was researching the issue for the association, said in an interview that “the insurance industry opposed the idea of collecting loss and claims data and the NAIC committee sided with the industry and not with me on this point.”
Without data about insurers’ losses, Klein’s report could not determine why premiums were higher in minority neighborhoods — whether the difference was truly because of greater risk there. “Researchers were unable to draw definitive conclusions about the causes of these market conditions,” the report stated.
Insurers say they set prices based on risk but are reluctant to share the data underlying their risk analyses, such as losses per zip code. Publishing data publicly about losses means “you’re creating something that is valuable and you are essentially giving it away,” said Lynch of the Insurance Information Institute.
Texas consumer advocate Birny Birnbaum won a rare victory when, through a public-records request, he obtained data collected by the state insurance commission at a zip-code level.
GEICO Casualty Company Premiums in Missouri Plots showing a the average difference for GEICO Casualty Company premiums for minority zip codes compared to white zip codes in Missouri at increasing levels of risk.
In 1997, using the information about each insurer’s number of policies, premiums and losses by zip code, Birnbaum published a fiery report naming Nationwide, Safeco, State Farm, USAA and Farm Bureau as among the “worst redliners” in the state because they had much smaller market share in minority neighborhoods than in other neighborhoods.
The insurers sued the Texas Department of Insurance and Birnbaum, contending that the information was a trade secret and making it public had damaged their business. A Travis County district court judge ruled in the insurers’ favor, saying they would “suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a temporary injunction.”
“There were roughly 200 insurance companies in the state. They all sued,” recalled D.J. Powers, who was Birnbaum’s pro bono attorney. “It was the entire auto insurance industry versus me and Birny.”
Since then, Birnbaum has continued to advocate for insurance commissions to collect and publicly release data that can be used for analysis of redlining and other issues. However, to this day, very few states do so. ProPublica filed public-records requests in all 50 states and the District of Columbia seeking zip-code level data about liability claims payouts. Only four states said they collected such data and provided it.
“Regulators are no better equipped to analyze or address these problems than they were 20 or 30 years ago,” Birnbaum said. “If you can’t even monitor the market to identify the problem, you’re certainly not going to be in a position to address the problem.”
On a redlining map of Chicago created by a federal housing agency in 1940, Otis Nash’s neighborhood, East Garfield Park, is colored red for “hazardous.”
“This is a mediocre district threatened with negro encroachment,” the map states. “Most properties are obsolete and the section is very congested.”
The term redlining is sometimes thought to have originated with these maps, which were created for many American cities by the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation between 1935 and 1940. The maps were used to assist loan officers in deciding which properties were worth financing.
On this federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation map from 1940, areas in Chicago were graded on their desirability — from green for “best,” to red for “hazardous.” Source: “Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America,” by Robert K. Nelson, LaDale Winling, Richard Marciano, Nathan Connolly, et al.
East Garfield Park was built as a community of townhouses for factory workers. Like much of Chicago’s West and South Sides, it became a predominantly minority neighborhood in the ‘50s and ‘60s as redlining discouraged investment and the city built an expressway and low-income housing projects in the area. Whites fled for the suburbs.
In 1970, East Garfield Park was among the many Chicago neighborhoods swept up in a wave of auto insurance redlining. In an experiment, Illinois had switched in 1969 from traditional auto insurance regulation — in which rates were approved by state regulators before being issued — to a so-called “open rating system” in which companies could issue rates without regulatory permission.
Illinois insurers soon divided Chicago into four territories for rate setting, a scheme that led to higher premiums in black neighborhoods. A group of black insurance brokers banded together to protest what they called a “color tax” that was being levied on black neighborhoods in Chicago.
The issue was severe enough that the U.S. Senate Antitrust and Monopoly subcommittee held a hearing in Chicago to examine it. One witness, undertaker Charles Childs, said the premiums on his two cars for personal use, a Cadillac and a Mercury, had risen from $450 in 1970 to $950 in 1971 and he had to drop coverage for his fleet of undertaker vehicles.
“As rates have been increased in the inner city, they have substantially decreased in essentially white areas,” Millard D. Robbins Jr., the head of the Insurance Brokers Association of Chicago, said at a press conference. “This creates a surtax on blackness and a discount for being Caucasian.”
With black Chicagoans in rebellion, the Illinois legislature declined to renew the experimental open competition law in 1971. But they couldn’t agree on a new law to replace it — so they just allowed the statute regulating auto insurance rate setting and prohibiting discrimination to expire.
Since then, Illinois, home to the corporate headquarters of State Farm and Allstate, has been the only state without legislation explicitly barring excessive or discriminatory rates in car insurance. Illinois does prohibit auto insurers from charging higher premiums to a customer because of his or her physical disability, race, color, religion or national origin.
To address complaints of discrimination from Chicago, lawmakers in 1971 proposed a compromise: They would ban insurers from using the four rating territories in the city.
“The question is: Shall we give the blacks in Chicago a fair break on insurance rates?” said Illinois state Sen. Egbert Groen during the statehouse debate.
In 1972, they passed a law requiring insurers to use a single territorial rate within the city of Chicago for bodily injury coverage. “No one will be helped more than those in the inner city,” predicted Illinois State Rep. Bernard Epton.
But the reality has turned out differently. For many insurers we examined, premiums were high for everyone within the city of Chicago, regardless of risk, compared to the rest of the state. This means that, since Chicago contains one-third of the state’s minority neighborhoods, they are still being overcharged.
And even within Chicago, the law has not prohibited insurers from differentiating prices by neighborhood. That’s because the single-territory rule is limited to bodily injury coverage; rates for property damage can still vary. (Both bodily injury and property damage coverage are mandatory for drivers to purchase in Illinois.)
Consider the premiums that Geico charges to Otis Nash and Ryan Hedges.
In Nash’s zip code, 60612, Geico has set the base rate for property damage insurance at $753 a year, according to the company’s December 2016 rate filing in Illinois.
That’s eight times higher than what Illinois insurers have paid out in property damage claims in that zip code — an average of $91.57 per car in the three years ending in 2014, according to data from the state insurance commission.
Otis Nash, who lives in East Garfield Park, Chicago, says he is used to seeing his neighorhood get shortchanged. (Alyssa Schukar, special to ProPublica)
By comparison, in Hedges’ neighborhood, 60657, Geico has set the base rate for property damage insurance at $376 a year, according to the same filing.
That’s half of the Geico base rate in Nash’s neighborhood. It’s also only about four times higher than what Illinois insurers have paid out in property damage claims in Hedges’ zip code — an average of $104.45 per car over the same period.
Of course, Geico’s calculations could reflect the unique risk of the insurer’s own clientele that is somehow not reflected in the state averages. But it could also reflect a disparity, unrelated to risk, that punishes a minority neighborhood.
Either way, the $377 disparity between property damage base rates accounts for the majority of the difference in liability premiums paid by Nash and Hedges. The base rate is adjusted by other factors such as age and driving record.
Both Nash and Hedges have about the same amount of property damage coverage for their vehicles.
Despite scraping to make ends meet, Nash bought collision, comprehensive and liability, as well as rental reimbursement, emergency road service and uninsured motorist coverage. “I got everything,” he said, “because you hear so many horror stories.”
He’s dependent on his car. He needs it to go to work, to shop for groceries now that the local pharmacy closed in his neighborhood and the dollar store burned down, and to take his 7-year-old daughter out to the suburbs where she can ride her bicycle in a park that is safe from crime.
“I don’t even walk up and down the block with my daughter,” Nash said, adding that it’s not unusual in the summer to “hear gunshots during the day.”
Nash said he is working with a financial adviser to cut back his expenses so he can make his rent payments. Still, he’s reluctant to give up any of his car insurance. “I would choose the rent over my car, but that would be playing with fire,” he said.
Hedges has even more coverage than Nash, but it is not a financial burden for him.
Hedges’ premium recently went up after his husband got into an accident. But even after the incident, their combined price of $115.37 a month for two cars is lower than the $190.69 a month that Nash pays for just one car. When told about the difference in prices, Hedges said it seemed unfair.
“It’s an unfortunate reflection of where we are in the corporate world and how we treat each other,” Hedges said.
Nash agreed: “Why would you go to the most poor communities and charge more?”
This story is not subject to our Creative Commons license.
Julia Angwin is a senior reporter at ProPublica. From 2000 to 2013, she was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, where she led a privacy investigative team that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting in 2011 and won a Gerald Loeb Award in 2010.
Lauren Kirchner is a senior reporting fellow at ProPublica. She has covered digital security and press freedom issues for the Columbia Journalism Review, and crime and criminal justice for Pacific Standard magazine. | – Drivers in predominantly black neighborhoods in four states paid an average of 30% more to insure their cars than those in white neighborhoods, a new study finds. While it has long been known that African Americans pay more to keep their cars on the road, the analysis conducted by ProPublica and Consumer Reports questioned the insurance industry's contention that premiums for liability insurance are determined by risk of accidents. After studying premiums and claims paid out in California, Illinois, Texas, and Missouri from 2012 to 2014, the nonprofits found that drivers in minority zip codes paid as much as 30% more than white drivers living in areas with similar risk. ProPublica says the "disparity may amount to a subtler form of redlining," meaning denying services to minorities. In this case, many non-white drivers who need their cars to get to work are struggling to pay sky-high bills. One black driver, Otis Nash, pays $136 more each month than a white man living in an area of Chicago deemed a higher insurance risk. "You just bite the bullet and go with it," Nash says. But California insurance regulators called the report "flawed," and the insurance industry dismissed it as a "weak" oversimplification of the rate-setting process. "There is no unfair discrimination, intentional or unintentional," says James Lynch of the Insurance Information Institute, per the New York Times. But ACLU attorney Rachel Goodman tells ProPublica the findings "fit within a pattern that we see all too often—racial disparities allegedly result from differences in risk, but that justification falls apart when we drill down into the data." (A study found Walmart deliberately runs better stores in white areas.) | [
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He writes to The Stranger:
Hi there,
Having been recently alerted to the Victoria Liss story on your website [here and here], I cannot stand by and have my good name tarnished.
As an Andrew Meyer who lives nowhere near the scene of the crime (I live in Fountain Valley, California), I am outraged by this situation.
I would like to cover for the trouble that poor Victoria has had to go through on behalf of someone who should be ashamed of himself on so many levels.
As a result, I'd like to send a 100% tip from the cost of the meal to Victoria. I will send $28.98 to her if you can arrange for that to happen.
Please contact me via e-mail or at [redacted].
My "name" can't be shamed anymore. It was bad enough when this guy tried his part.
I can stand my ground no more.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Andrew Meyer ||||| Bad tippers be warned, there are servers out there in restaurants who may hunt you down if you don't deliver what they deem an appropriate tip. Servers like Victoria Liss, who has waged an all-out manhunt/smear campaign to make "yuppie scum" Andrew Meyers pay for what he left her.
Meyers moseyed into Bimbo's Cantina in Seattle last Friday night with a lady friend where Liss had the "pleasure" of waiting on them. They had some chips, guac, a double-decker pork taco, and no apparent complaints. When the bill for $28.98 came, it was bad enough that Meyers put a big old zero on the tip line, but it's what he wrote at the bottom of the bill that really pissed Liss off: "P.S. You could stand to loose [sic] a few pounds."
Oh, yes he did ... and in doing so raised the ire of Liss and subsequently mobs of Internet users after Liss set out to pay him back via public shaming.
Advertisement | – A crazy story about a waitress getting gipped and insulted by a customer just may have a happy ending: The tale began last weekend when Seattle waitress Victoria Liss collected a bill from a customer who wrote in "0" on the tip line and added, "P.S. You could stand to loose (sic) a few pounds." An outraged Liss uploaded a photo of the bill to her Facebook page and identified him online. (He paid by credit card, making it easy.) Internet revenge ensued, with strangers, friends, and bloggers calling out the customer, Andrew Meyers. Which, of course, led to the wrong Andrew Meyers being pilloried in public. Now, however, yet another Andrew Meyers has come forward to the Stranger to offer Liss a 100% tip on the $29 bill, all in the name of clearing the Andrew Meyers name. The newspaper is putting him in touch with Liss. At the Stir blog, meanwhile, Julie Ryan Evans hopes the real culprit is "shaking in his scummy yuppie shoes." | [
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] |
APS March Meeting 2015 Volume 60, Number 1 Monday–Friday, March 2–6, 2015; San Antonio, Texas
Session S48: Focus Session: Physics of Evolutionary and Population Dynamics I
8:00 AM–11:00 AM, Thursday, March 5, 2015
Room: 217C
Sponsoring Unit: DBIO
Chair: Michel Pleimliung, Virginia Tech University
Abstract ID: BAPS.2015.MAR.S48.8
Abstract: S48.00008 : The Statistical Mechanics of Zombies
9:24 AM–9:36 AM
Preview Abstract Abstract
Authors:
Alexander A. Alemi
(Cornell University)
Matthew Bierbaum
(Cornell University)
Christopher R. Myers
(Cornell University)
James P. Sethna
(Cornell University)
We present results and analysis from a large scale exact stochastic dynamical simulation of a zombie outbreak. Zombies have attracted some attention lately as a novel and interesting twist on classic disease models. While most of the initial investigations have focused on the continuous, fully mixed dynamics of a differential equation model, we have explored stochastic, discrete simulations on lattices. We explore some of the basic statistical mechanical properties of the zombie model, including its phase diagram and critical exponents. We report on several variant models, including both homogeneous and inhomogeneous lattices, as well as allowing diffusive motion of infected hosts. We build up to a full scale simulation of an outbreak in the United States, and discover that for `realistic' parameters, we are largely doomed. ||||| Zombies as portrayed in the movie Night of the Living Dead. Credit: Wikipedia A team of Cornell University researchers focusing on a fictional zombie outbreak as an approach to disease modeling suggests heading for the hills, in the Rockies, to save your 'braains' from the 'undead.'
Reading World War Z, an oral history of the first zombie war, and a graduate statistical mechanics class inspired a group of Cornell University researchers to explore how an "actual" zombie outbreak might play out in the U.S.
During the 2015 American Physical Society March Meeting, on Thursday, March 5 in San Antonio, Texas, the group will describe their work modeling the statistical mechanics of zombies—those thankfully fictional "undead" creatures with an appetite for human flesh.
Why model the mechanics of zombies? "Modeling zombies takes you through a lot of the techniques used to model real diseases, albeit in a fun context," says Alex Alemi, a graduate student at Cornell University.
Alemi and colleagues' work offers a nice introduction to disease modeling in general, as well as some techniques of statistical physics for measuring second-order phase transitions. "It's interesting in its own right as a model, as a cousin of traditional SIR [susceptible, infected, and resistant] models—which are used for many diseases—but with an additional nonlinearity," points out Alemi.
All told, the project was an overview of modern epidemiology modeling, starting with differential equations to model a fully connected population, then moving on to lattice-based models, and ending with a full U.S.-scale simulation of an outbreak across the continental U.S.
It involved a lot of computational results generated from simulations the researchers wrote themselves. "At their heart, the simulations are akin to modeling chemical reactions taking place between different elements and, in this case, we have four states a person can be in—human, infected, zombie, or dead zombie—with approximately 300 million people," Alemi explains.
The project's large-scale simulations are stochastic in nature, meaning that they have an element of randomness. "Each possible interaction—zombie bites human, human kills zombie, zombie moves, etc.—is treated like a radioactive decay, with a half-life that depends on some parameters, and we tried to simulate the times it would take for all of these different interactions to fire, where complications arise because when one thing happens it can affect the rates at which all of the other things happen," he says.
In most films or books, "if there is a zombie outbreak, it is usually assumed to affect all areas at the same time, and some months after the outbreak you're left with small pockets of survivors," explains Alemi. "But in our attempt to model zombies somewhat realistically, it doesn't seem like this is how it would actually go down."
Cities would fall quickly, but it would take weeks for zombies to penetrate into less densely populated areas, and months to reach the northern mountain-time zone.
"Given the dynamics of the disease, once the zombies invade more sparsely populated areas, the whole outbreak slows down—there are fewer humans to bite, so you start creating zombies at a slower rate," he elaborates. "I'd love to see a fictional account where most of New York City falls in a day, but upstate New York has a month or so to prepare."
If you somehow happen to find yourself in the midst of a fictional zombie outbreak and want to survive as long as possible, Alemi recommends making a run for the northern Rockies. While not an entirely practical implication, it's "fun to know," he says, and points out the benefits of applying hard science to fun topics—especially to help make learning more entertaining and enjoyable.
"A lot of modern research can be off-putting for people because the techniques are complicated and the systems or models studied lack a strong connection to everyday experiences," Alemi adds. "Not that zombies are an everyday occurrence, but most people can wrap their braains around them."
What's next for Alemi and colleagues? "Given the time, we could attempt to add more complicated social dynamics to the simulation, such as allowing people to make a run for it, include plane flights, or have an awareness of the zombie outbreak, etc.," he notes.
Explore further: UK brains under threat?
More information: meeting.aps.org/Meeting/MAR15/Session/S48.8
| – If a zombie outbreak were to strike US shores, East Coasters should head west ASAP. That recommendation comes by way of Cornell University researchers, who have modeled the statistical mechanics of, yes, zombies and will present their findings at a meeting of the American Physical Society on March 5 in San Antonio. The researchers used a number of techniques that are used when modeling real diseases, and the abstract ends with this dismal line: "We build up to a full scale simulation of an outbreak in the United States, and discover that for 'realistic' parameters, we are largely doomed." But Phys.Org relays a glimmer of hope by way of Alex Alemi, a grad student involved in the research: He says those who want to remain safe from the undead for as long as they can should head to the northern Rockies. He explains that while books and movies typically show an outbreak touching all corners of the country immediately, "in our attempt to model zombies somewhat realistically, it doesn't seem like this is how it would actually go down." Yes, major cities could be toast within days, but less populated areas could be unaffected for weeks, and the northern Mountain Time Zone could be safe for months. "Given the dynamics of the disease, once the zombies invade more sparsely populated areas, the whole outbreak slows down—there are fewer humans to bite, so you start creating zombies at a slower rate," says Alemi. "I'd love to see a fictional account where most of New York City falls in a day, but upstate New York has a month or so to prepare." (Of course, some people want to be trapped in a room with a zombie.) | [
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] |
Willow Palin and her high school buddies trashed a vacant house in Alaska. Now it appears residents of the Mat-Su Valley are pissed that Sarah Palin got Willow off the hook. Watch out, Sarah. The small town scene is brutal.
Here is how Sarah Palin will be destroyed by petty small town drama. Her daughter Willow (Not the Levi Johnston one) runs with the wrong crowd at Colony High School in Palmer, Alaska. One source told the National Inquirer:
Willow has been running with the wrong crowd... They are a popular high school clique known as the Colony Girls, who are well known as hard partiers and are regularly involved in underage drinking and smoking dope.
Every kid in the Mat-su Valley simultaneously hates and envies the Colony Girls: They are envious of their social success and resentful that this success allows them to get away with things they can't. They transcend bad kid/good kid dynamic that so defines their own experience. It's not fair!
It is December, 2009. Willow Palin and her Colony Girls throw a super sweet party at a house they know is for sale. Willow, apparently, is the one who leads them to the house. The rager is so epic it caused "between twenty to thirty thousand dollars in damage," according to the Immoral Minority.
The lock had been forced, five wooden doors had been so badly damaged they needed to be replaced, the walls and floors had been gouged with knives, and vodka and orange juice containers were strewn all over the house. It also appeared that sexual activity had taken place on some of the beds, and a computer, some winter gear, and clothing had all been stolen.
Everyone hears about the party. The on January 13th, according to The Immoral Minority, the homeowner discovers their trashed house and the cops are called. The National Enquirer picks up the story. The Colony Girls are in trouble! Resentment overtakes envy: Finally, the Colony Girls will get their due.
But just like that, the heat is off the Colony Girls. According to The Immoral Minority, a "secret weekend meeting" took place between State Troopers and the Palins. After the meeting, the probation officer decides to charge only the boys engaged in the crime. "The girls would only be identified as 'witnesses' and face no criminal penalties."
Now all Mat-Su Valley rages. The Immoral Minority writes, "sources have told me that a number of the parents are very unhappy that their children will face charges and that Willow and the other girls will not." Having grown up in a small town ourselves, we know for a fact that this kind of thing makes people vicious to an extent that would give Mexican drug cartels pause. Years of the Colony Girls getting off the hook have culminated in this ultimate injustice, now it's all-out provincial war. And, given the target, it will be waged on a national level. Sarah Palin better start paying for some Mat-Su Valley high school gym floors to be refinished or something. |||||
Hours after LL Cool J complained that Fox News was recycling an old interview with him for a new program hosted by Sarah Palin, representatives for the country musician Toby Keith, who was also listed as a guest for the show, made a similar charge against the cable channel.
In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Elaine Schock, a publicist for Mr. Keith said: “I have no idea what interview they are using. Toby’s talked to Fox a number of times, and I had no idea that this was going to be on Sarah Palin’s special. Fox has never contacted me — not now, not when they were putting this together, not at all. I have no idea what they’re using.”
Mr. Keith, whose songs include “Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue,” was announced as a guest on “Real American Stories,” a program that Fox News has scheduled for Thursday night. Ms. Schock said he had not been interviewed by Fox News since 2008. Update: In a subsequent email message, Ms. Schock said that the interview with Mr. Keith likely happened in early 2009.
Asked if Mr. Keith was ever interviewed by Ms. Palin, Ms. Schock said, “Absolutely not.”
LL Cool J, the rapper and actor, wrote Tuesday on his Twitter feed that Fox News was “misrepresenting” him by using a 2008 interview in its promotions and advertisements for the show. On Wednesday, Fox News said it had dropped him from “Real American Stories.”
A Fox News executive said Wednesday that Mr. Keith’s team was informed Monday that his interview was to be a part of the Palin show. The executive, who asked not to be identified because all official comments were limited to formal statements about the special that the channel issued Wednesday, said a producer on the program sent an email message to Ms. Schock Monday, with the information that Mr. Keith would be included in the show.
According to a copy of an email message provided to The Times, the producer wrote Ms. Schock saying, “You may recall that almost a year ago, we did an interview with Toby Keith for our program Real American Stories. I’m happy to report our show is finally going to air.”
In a separate telephone interview Wednesday, Ms. Schock said that she spent much of the day looking through her email messages to see if she had been contacted by Fox News. “The last email I have from them is from January, 2009,” she said. She added, “I’m not saying Fox did not email me. Maybe they spelled my name wrong. I’m just saying I never got an email or a phone call from them.”
In the press release that Fox issued Monday announcing the special, it was described as being “hosted by Sarah Palin” but did not say she interviewed the people in it. The release said the show would “feature Toby Keith.” It also said LL Cool J and Mr. Welch would “both speak about their success” in a separate segment called “In Their Own Words.”
But several accounts of the special reported that Ms. Palin herself would be talking to the guests in the show. One of these, on the Fox Nation website, which is owned by Fox News, reprinted an account from the website The Hill, which said:
“Sarah Palin will kick off her new Fox News series with one of the most diverse guest lineups in memory: LL Cool J, Toby Keith, and Jack Welch. The three very different guests will speak to Palin for her inaugural episode of ‘ American Stories ‘ on April 1st.”
Ms. Schock said she remained surprised that Fox News had not made any further efforts to reach her, not even Wednesday when the issue of how the show was put together was being raised. “I’m still waiting for the phone call,” she said.
But she acknowledged that the video footage of Mr. Keith being interviewed by a Fox News producer was the property of the network and could be used without any further permission. She said she did not intend to ask Fox News to exclude the material.
As for Mr. Keith, Ms. Schock said she had spoken to the singer about his inclusion in the Palin special. Asked his reaction, she said, “I’m not going to comment on what Toby feels about it.” | – It looks like Fox News was at least two-thirds wrong when they said LL Cool J, Toby Keith, and Jack Welch "will speak to" Sarah Palin "for her inaugural episode of American Stories on April 1st.” Toby Keith has joined LL Cool J in denying that Palin interviewed him, his publicist tells the New York Times, and the network appears to be just recycling an old interview Keith did in 2009. And that's not the least of the bad news for Palin: The former governor isn't the only Palin going rogue, reports Gawker: It seems that Willow, along with some clique known as the Colony Girls, threw themselves a heckuva party last December at a vacant house and caused $20,000 to $30,000 in damage. But mysteriously, after state troopers met with the Palins, only the boys involved are facing charges. Queue the small-town drama. | [
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Police in Ohio have filed an aggravated murder charge against a 20-year-old man accused of killing his fiancée’s mother late last month, PEOPLE confirms.
Jeffrey Scullin Jr., who had been engaged to the daughter of sixth-grade teacher Melinda Pleskovic, was arrested on Tuesday by Strongsville police. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.
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Strongsville Police Chief Mark Fender announced the arrest during a news conference held hours after Scullin was taken into custody.
Pleskovic, 49, was found dead inside her home on Oct. 23. She’d been stabbed and shot.
In a strange development, Sculllin was one of the two people to call 911 to report his future mother-in-law’s death.
Chief Fender told reporters that Pleskovic’s husband, Bruce Pleskovic, called 911 that Monday after returning to his home with Scullin to find Melinda on the floor in a pool of blood.
“I think my wife is dead,” he told a dispatcher.
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Jeffrey Scullin Jr. Strongsville Police Department
Melinda Pleskovic Facebook
During the call, Bruce said that there had been break-ins at their home in recent weeks, most recently the Thursday before Melinda’s killing.
But police suspect he was acting under information given to him by Scullin — the only person, they say, who had reported seeing people attempting to illegally enter the residence.
Scullin, who had also been living at the Pleskovics’ home, told the 911 operator in his own call that he saw no signs of a break-in, according to audio of the call obtained by PEOPLE. He said that the doors to the home had been locked.
“We just came home. She’s on the kitchen floor,” he said. “I took her son and my daughter outside. Her husband is inside with her now.”
“We found her in the kitchen. She’s not moving,” he continued.
Asked by the dispatcher if it appeared Melinda had been beaten, Scullin said, “She has blood all around her. I didn’t look. I just grabbed the child and left. There’s a lot of blood.”
A possible motive and further details about how the crime were committed have not been released.
Scullin has not yet entered a plea, and it was unclear Thursday if he’s retained legal counsel who could comment on his behalf.
He and Melinda’s daughter were set to marry last weekend. Instead, they spent the day at her funeral where he reportedly served as a pallbearer. ||||| Melinda was a beloved figure in the community. She was a mother of three children and a sixth grade teacher who taught at Strongsville City Schools for more than 20 years. ||||| The blood of Strongsville school teacher Melinda Pleskovic was found on the blade of a knife located in a pickup truck driven by her daughter's fiance, court records show.
In addition, police say Jeffrey Scullin's DNA was found on the knife handle and that more blood was found on a passenger side door. Police describe the knife as a 'large, tactical' weapon.
Scullin, 20, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on charges of aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, making false alarms and tampering with evidence.
He is being held under a $1 million bond.
The court document filed by Strongsville police investigators is the first true glimpse of how Scullin came to emerge as a suspect in Pleskovic's shooting and stabbing death Oct. 23 inside her Blazing Star home.
Scullin, who lived with Pleskovic, 49, and her husband, was set to marry the couple's daughter just days after the killing. Instead, the family held a funeral and Scullin served as a pallbearer.
Police reports show the Pleskovics had complained for a year about pranks and break-ins at their home One attempted break-in, four days before the slaying, was reported by Scullin. The false alarm charge is connected to that burglary report, documents show.
It was Scullin and Pleskovic's husband who called 911 after arriving home and discovering Melinda Pleskovic's body on the kitchen floor.
Surveillance cameras were examined and confirm that the family had spent time at Applebees prior to the slaying.
Police are also examining Scullin's cell phone as well as the phones of the Pleskovic family for possible evidence. | – A 911 caller in Ohio who told the dispatcher "there's a lot of blood" after he came across the body of his future mother-in-law is now being accused of her murder. "Jeffery William Scullin Jr. has been charged with aggravated murder," Strongsville Police Chief Mark Fender told reporters at a Tuesday press conference, which WOIO notes took place eight days after the killing of 49-year-old Melinda Pleskovic. Scullin, 20, was engaged to Pleskovic's daughter and lived in the Pleskovic home. People reports he arrived at the home with Pleskovic's husband, Bruce, on Oct. 23 to find the sixth-grade teacher's body on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. She'd been shot and stabbed several times. Bruce Pleskovic told a 911 dispatcher there'd been recent break-ins at their home, but cops say he may have thought that based on info fed to him by Scullin. Scullin, who made a separate 911 call, told the dispatcher it didn't look like anyone had broken in. He says he grabbed his own daughter and Pleskovic's son—WKYC notes the 18-year-old has Down syndrome—and went outside without surveying the scene more carefully. Scullin was set to marry Pleskovic's daughter on the Saturday after the slaying, but instead he was said to have served as a pallbearer at her funeral. Per court records cited by WKYC, a knife with Pleskovic's blood was found in Scullin's pickup truck, among other evidence. Scullin is being held on a $1 million bond. (This man killed his mom and two brothers weeks before his planned wedding.) | [
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EXCLUSIVE: The widow of the Nirvana frontman was a very vocal supporter of the recent HBO documentary Montage Of Heck, but she’s no fan of another film about her relationship with her late husband. The legal team representing Courtney Love has issued a cease-and-desist order against theaters showing the controversial Benjamin Statler-directed docudrama Soaked in Bleach, a look at the death of Kurt Cobain that was ruled a suicide in 1994.
“The Film falsely presents a widely and repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory that accuses Ms. Cobain of orchestrating the death of her husband Kurt Cobain,” writes the Hole singer’s attorney in the order (read it here). “A false accusation of criminal behavior is defamatory … which entitles Ms. Cobain to both actual and presumed damages.” No complaint has been filed with the courts as of yet.
From Suburban Hitchhiker and Daredevil Films, Soaked In Bleach centers on private investigator Tom Grant, hired by Love to find Cobain after he left a substance abuse treatment center in Los Angeles on March 30, 1994. During the period between the musician’s disappearance and the April 8 discovery of his body, Grant recorded many of the conversations he had with Love. Those recordings, paired with re-enactments, make up much of the film, though documentary footage as well as interviews with people close to the matter also are used.
The film revives the highly controversial claim that Cobain’s death was a homicide and that Love might have had a connection to it. It covers similar ground to Nick Broomfield’s 1999 documentary Kurt & Courtney. Seattle police re-examined evidence in 2014 and said the death still was ruled a suicide.
The producers of Soaked In Bleach provided the following statement to Deadline:
We were disturbed to learn that Courtney Love’s lawyers sent threatening letters to movie theaters all over the country. Most arrived before Soaked in Bleach was released last week, presumably before she or her lawyers ever saw it. She obviously hoped to scare theater owners into dropping the film. Thankfully, very few were intimidated. Most saw the letter for what it is – a cowardly attack on the rights of free speech, free expression and free choice. Courtney Love’s uninformed accusations and efforts to discredit the film are totally off base. The film examines the well documented facts surrounding the death of Kurt Cobain and it questions much of what the public has been told about those events. Most of the opinions and theories presented in the film come directly from facts gathered by Tom Grant, the private investigator Courtney Love hired the week before Kurt’s body was discovered. Tom quickly became suspicious and tape recorded all his conversations with Courtney and others in the days leading up to and after Kurt’s death. The film uses those recordings to reenact Tom’s encounters with Courtney Love and others in Kurt’s inner circle. It also presents the views of Norm Stamper, Seattle’s Police Chief at the time, and Dr. Cyril Wecht, a leading forensic pathologist, who both question whether Kurt could have committed suicide. Courtney Love and her lawyers clearly don’t like that the film presents a compelling case for re-opening the investigation into Kurt’s death. They should respect the First Amendment and let people decide for themselves.
Interest in the musician’s life has been high of late. Director Brett Morgan’s Kurt Cobain: Montage oOf Heck was a success for HBO back in April, earning $107,055 in only three theaters in its first weekend, making it the year’s biggest nonfiction debut.
Love is represented by Dongell Lawrence Finney LLP. ||||| Kurt Cobain killed himself on April 5, 1994, but there are many people who believe that is not what actually happened. The new documentary Soaked In Bleach focuses on the conspiracy theory that the Nirvana frontman was murdered, and that his wife Courtney Love was behind the act. According to the film, Seattle’s former police chief Norm Stamper is, at the very least, willing to consider this somewhat dubious theory.
“We should in fact have taken steps to study patterns involved in the behavior of key individuals who had a motive to see Kurt Cobain dead,” Stamper says in the documentary. “If in fact Kurt Cobain was murdered, as opposed to having committed suicide, and it was possible to learn that, shame on us for not doing that. That was in fact our responsibility.”
“It’s about right and wrong. It’s about honor. It’s about ethics,” he continued. “If we didn’t get it right the first time, we damn well better get it right the second time, and I would tell you right now if I were the Chief of Police, I would reopen this investigation.”
It’s important to note that Stamper isn’t outright saying he believes that Cobain was murdered; rather, he’s just pushing for a thorough investigation.
Soaked In Bleach has been a predictably polarizing film. Love, the target of the documentary’s allegations, filed a cease and desist against theaters showing the movie, saying that the claims “cannot have any credibility.” ||||| Conspiracy theorists have long speculated that the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was more insidious than a suicide. In a new documentary called Soaked in Bleach, director Benjamin Statler takes a look at the rock star’s end through the eyes of Tom Grant, a private investigator Courtney Love hired to locate the missing Cobain just days before he was found dead.
Not only does the film reveal some supposedly convincing evidence from Grant’s point of view, it also sees former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper, who was in office at the time of Cobain’s death, saying he’d reopen the case if he were still Police Chief today.
“We should in fact have taken steps to study patterns involved in the behavior of key individuals who had a motive to see Kurt Cobain dead,” Stamper admits in the film, according to Alternative Nation. “If in fact Kurt Cobain was murdered, as opposed to having committed suicide, and it was possible to learn that, shame on us for not doing that. That was in fact our responsibility.”
Stamper went on to say that a new investigation would be “about right and wrong, it’s about honor. it’s about ethics. if we didn’t get it right the first time, we damn well better get it right the second time, and I would tell you right now if I were the Chief of Police, I would reopen this investigation.”
In March 2014, Seattle police briefly reexamined the investigation after a cold case detective discovered unseen photographs from the crime scene. However, police ultimately concluded the photographs provided no new evidence and the case was again closed.
For her part, Love has been attempting to legally block Soaked in Bleach from being shown in theaters, going so far as to send cease and desist letters to any establishment planning on airing it. She claims the film “falsely presents a widely and repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory that accuses Ms. Cobain of orchestrating the death of her husband Kurt Cobain.” The Love-approved documentary, Montage of Heck, has meanwhile received vast critical acclaim.
Watch the trailer for Soaked in Bleach below. ||||| Search by keyword Topic, title or author Narrow your search Within these sections Control + click to search multiple sections. All sections Business & Technology Editorials & Opinion Education Entertainment Health Living Local News Nation & World Obituaries Politics Sports Travel & Outdoors Within these dates All dates since 1990 Past week Past year Custom date range: From: Month January February March April May June July August September October November December Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Year 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 To: Month January February March April May June July August September October November December Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Year 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Within these sites A network search will provide results to seattletimes.com as well our network of sites. A network search will provide paid obituaries as well as classified listings. seattletimes.com Our network sites Rank the results Newest matches first Best matches first Note: some areas within seattletimes.com are not available within search. Those include: comics, horoscopes, photography and sports scores and stats.
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The Seattle Times offers story and photo reprints, special sections, a variety of books and more. For information, visit the Seattle Times store. | – Conspiracy theories have long swirled around the 1994 death of Kurt Cobain, but the latest film documentary about the Nirvana frontman has Courtney Love filing cease-and-desist letters and the ex-police chief of Seattle saying he'd reopen the case if he were still in charge, Spin reports. In Soaked in Bleach, a private investigator named Tom Grant says he was hired by Love to find Cobain, who had gone missing, just a few days before his death, per the Consequence of Sound. The movie reportedly offers up convincing evidence from Grant that Cobain didn't kill himself but was murdered, and that Love was the mastermind, Spin notes. The film also features commentary from Norm Stamper, who had just taken over as head of Seattle's police force before Cobain died. While Stamper doesn't come right out and say Love had her husband offed, he does think the movie's allegations warrant a new look. "We should in fact have taken steps to study patterns involved in the behavior of key individuals who had a motive to see Kurt Cobain dead," he says in the movie, per Spin. "If in fact Kurt Cobain was murdered … and it was possible to learn that, shame on us for not doing that." And if he were still chief today, those steps would be taken, Stamper adds: "It's about right and wrong. It's about honor. It's about ethics. If we didn’t get it right the first time, we damn well better get it right the second time, and I would tell you right now if I were the chief of police, I would reopen this investigation." (The Montage of Heck documentary about Cobain has been described as "brilliant" and "uncomfortable.") | [
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Published on Nov 3, 2017
Rosie O'Donnell explains the origins of her long-running feud with Donald Trump and her plans to get a Robert Mueller tattoo.
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Rosie O'Donnell Tells the Origin Story of Her Feud with Donald Trump- Late Night with Seth Meyers
https://youtu.be/8M57Tt0uEM0
Late Night with Seth Meyers
http://www.youtube.com/user/latenight... ||||| Many have turned their backs on Donald Trump following his comments about immigration, but one former controversial beauty queen feels torn.
Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner made headlines during her year wearing the crown after reports surfaced that the she was underage drinking and eventually tested positive for cocaine.
Instead of stripping the title from the pageant queen, Trump offered her a second chance and allowed her to enter rehab, so his recent choice of words took Conner by surprise.
Donald Trump's public feuds
"He did a huge service for me and he really helped me out a lot," she shared with the Daily News. "Because I feel like he took such a strong step forward for the recovery movement by sending me to treatment and breaking the stigma in that way but when we throw around words like rapists and druggies it's extremely irresponsible because it adds to the stigma of addiction."
Miss USA Tara Conner gives her response to the interview question on stage during the Miss Universe 2006 pageant. (Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images)
"If you're gonna make such a strong comment on a race or even just people in general maybe back that up with: how are you gonna help people in recovery and make that more of an option for people who are struggling with addiction and alcoholism, instead of just adding to the stigma?"
Regardless of her distaste for his word choice, the former Miss USA admits if she saw him now she would just feel gratitude.
"I would be very gracious for what he has done for me and my life because he helped change my life, I will forever be grateful for that," she explained.
The former Miss USA, who the media referred to as "Mess America," says she has been sober for 8 ½ years, but still struggles with the disease every day.
"I still have my days where I wake up and feel unhealthy and that's when I have to use the tools that I've been given or that I've learned so that I can try to get back in the healthy chair because you don't just get sober and you graduate and you're fine, it's a disease I'm gonna have for the rest of my life, but I have to make that choice every day that I wake up," she shared.
Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| “Do you see I’m a little edgy?” Rosie O’Donnell asked Seth Meyers midway through her interview on Late Night Thursday to promote her role in the new Showtime series SMILF. “I spend like pretty much 90 percent of my waking hours tweeting hatred towards this administration.”
“That is a two-way street,” Meyers pointed out, noting that Donald Trump has been targeting O’Donnell for a very long time. Perhaps most famous was the moment during the first Republican primary debate when Trump responded to Megyn Kelly’s question about his history of misogynistic statements by saying, “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”
“Over a decade,” O’Donnell said.
It all started back when O’Donnell was co-hosting The View. As she explained, there was a young woman who had recently been crowned “Junior Miss Trump Atlantic City Pageant Sexist Winner,” as O’Donnell put it, when she was “caught” by the New York Post kissing a woman at a bar downtown. Trump held a press conference and announced that he had forgiven her for her transgressions.
“What is he, the pimp and she’s the prostitute?” O’Donnell remembered saying at the time. “He’s the moral arbiter of 20-year-old behavior now, right?” From there, she went on to talk about how he has been “bankrupt four times, that he got all his money from his father, and that he notoriously cheats private contractors out of their money.”
After she said all that on The View, Trump “went batshit crazy.”
“So, you know, as bad as everyone feels and they have felt since November 8th, I know for me, I’ve been in a severe depression,” O’Donnell told Meyers. “Although, I’d like to say, today after your show I’m going to get a Bob Mueller tattoo. Because I love him!”
When Meyers described Mueller as a “severe” man, O’Donnell said, “He looks to me like Superman. Like Captain America. Like justice has finally arrived back on our shores! And we are going to right ourselves again!”
“I will say that if Trump gets indicted, it would be really great if Mueller let you serve the papers,” Meyers replied.
O’Donnell said that when Trump first rode down that escalator to announce his campaign she was “laughing her ass off” because she thought it “would never happen.” Even her therapist assured her that Trump could never actually win the election.
How wrong they were. | – Head to the Trump Twitter archive, type in "Rosie," and you can see in scathing detail the online manifestation of the longtime feud between the president and Rosie O'Donnell. But did we ever really know what started it? O'Donnell offered her take Thursday night on Late Night With Seth Meyers, after the host pointed out that Trump had been going after O'Donnell for what seems like forever, per the Daily Beast. "Over a decade," O'Donnell confirmed, before revealing that she believed the brouhaha all started after something she said on TV when she was co-hosting The View. O'Donnell notes that after Tara Conner, Miss USA 2006, was caught engaging in underage drinking and tested positive for cocaine use that year, Trump announced at a presser he would forgive her. Rosie remembers thinking, "What is he, the pimp and she's the prostitute? He's the moral arbiter of 20-year-old behavior now, right?" And so she scoured the internet (she says she went on Wikipedia) and found some "easily accessible" nuggets—including that Trump went "bankrupt four times, that he got all his money from his father, and that he notoriously cheats private contractors out of their money"—and then shared them on The View. And that, she says, is when Trump went "bats--- crazy." O'Donnell and Meyers also dished on the Robert Mueller Russia investigation, with Meyers noting, "I will say that if Trump gets indicted, it would be really great if Mueller let you serve the papers." O'Donnell replied, "I have put in that request by tweet. I'm waiting to hear." | [
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Story highlights Almost 200 girls still held captive by Boko Haram
At least 14 parents of the missing girls have died since 2014 kidnapping
Abuja, Nigeria (CNN) The 21 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped and released by terrorist group Boko Haram were reunited with their families amid tearful scenes on Sunday.
At a ceremony in Nigeria's capital Abuja, parents were overcome with emotion as they laid eyes on their missing daughters for the first time in two-and-a-half years.
They clutched their daughters, some in disbelief, as tears streamed down their faces. One mother even strapped her daughter onto her back and carried her like a baby.
A mother is reunited with her kidnapped daughter on Sunday.
Negotiations will continue Monday to free the remaining girls, but sources tell CNN that only 83 out of the 197 left are being negotiated for.
Reunion too late for some
Read More ||||| ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's government is negotiating the release of another 83 of the Chibok schoolgirls taken in a mass abduction two-and-a-half years ago, but more than 100 others appear unwilling to leave their Boko Haram Islamic extremist captors, a community leader said Tuesday.
The unwilling girls may have been radicalized by Boko Haram or are ashamed to return home because they were forced to marry extremists and have babies, chairman Pogu Bitrus of the Chibok Development Association told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Bitrus said the 21 Chibok girls freed last week in the first negotiated release between Nigeria's government and Boko Haram should be educated abroad, because they will probably face stigma in Nigeria.
The girls and their parents were reunited Sunday and are expected to meet with Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday or Wednesday, Bitrus said. Buhari flew to Germany on an official visit the day of the girls' release.
Some 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped from a school in northeastern Chibok in April 2014. Dozens escaped early on and at least half a dozen have died in captivity, according to the newly freed girls, Bitrus said.
All those who escaped on their own have left Chibok because, even though they were held only a few hours, they were labelled "Boko Haram wives" and taunted, he said. At least 20 of the girls are being educated in the United States.
"We would prefer that they are taken away from the community and this country because the stigmatization is going to affect them for the rest of their lives," Bitrus said. "Even someone believed to have been abused by Boko Haram would be seen in a bad light."
One Chibok girl, Amina Ali Nkeki, escaped in May. Chibok Parents' Association chairman Yakubu Nkeki said the young woman has been reunited with her freed classmates, all of whom are being treated by doctors, psychologists and trauma counsellors at a hospital in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, run by the Department of State Security, Nigeria's secret service.
Human rights advocates and the Bring Back Our Girls Movement have been asking if the girl is a detainee of the government and have been demanding she be allowed to return home, as she has requested.
One father of a newly freed girl, Emos Lawal, said his daughter was "praying that let the rest of them have the chance to come out."
The freed girls have told their parents they were separated into two groups early on in their captivity, when Boko Haram commanders gave them the choice of joining the extremists and embracing Islam, or becoming their slaves, Bitrus said.
The girls freed and those whose release is being negotiated, numbering 104, are believed to be in the group that rejected Islam and Boko Haram, he explained. The freed girls said they never saw the other girls again.
Bitrus said the freed girls were used as domestic workers and porters but were not sexually abused. He said that was why only one girl in the freed group is carrying a baby, and her parents have confirmed that she was pregnant when she was kidnapped. An aid worker had told The Associated Press that he had seen the girls on their release and that all but three carried babies. Bitrus said that report was incorrect.
Previous negotiators in talks that failed also had corroborated that more than 100 of the girls did not want to return to their parents, Bitrus said.
Chibok is a small and conservative Christian enclave in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria, where many parents are involved in translating the Bible into local languages and belong to the Nigerian branch of the Elgin, Illinois-based Church of the Brethren.
Nigeria's government has denied reports that the girls were swapped for four Boko Haram commanders, or that a large ransom was paid. ||||| ABUJA, Nigeria — They were taken deep into the Sambisa Forest to Boko Haram’s stronghold, where the more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok were offered a choice: Join the militants or become their slaves.
About half of them chose to join and marry the fighters and were taken away, never to be heard from.
Those who refused endured more than two years of servitude, washing, fetching water and cooking for Boko Haram.
The girls, nearly all of them Christians, lived in grass huts and were forced to convert to Islam. At first they ate rice and maize. | – Twenty-one Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped in April 2014 by Boko Haram extremists in Nigeria were released last week, and on Sunday, they had what they've been wishing for for more than two years: reunions with their families. It was an emotional scene at a welcome-home ceremony in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, with plenty of tight embraces, singing, and tears of joy, per CNN and the New York Times. One woman even lifted her daughter onto her back and carried her like an infant, CNN notes. "I felt like it was the day that I born her into this world," one ecstatic mother said, per the Times. "I danced and danced and danced." Some of the freed girls held up Bibles at an earlier church service as a sign they were reclaiming their Christianity after being forced by their captors to convert to Islam. But not all the tears at Sunday's ceremony were from happiness. Some attendees at the reunion have daughters who are among the 200 or so still missing—and the stories the returned captives tell is a grim one. They say they were given the option to join up with the militants as their wives and turn to Islam or else be turned into slaves responsible for cooking, cleaning, and other chores; about half chose each option. They often went hungry, and some died in the Sambisa Forest where they were being held. And while the Nigerian government is trying to negotiate to free the other captives, there's been a disturbing development: More than 100 of them seem unwilling to return home, either because they've been radicalized or because they feel shame at marrying their captors and having babies with them, the head of the Chibok Development Association tells the AP. | [
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× Timeline: Updates in the Aurora movie theater shooting
The following information is updated as details become available:
UPDATES:
Monday, July 23, 2012
3:09 PM: Court set up a web page for documents related to the People of the State of Colorado v. James Holmes.
2:45 PM: Booking photo of the suspect, James Holmes, is released.
2:00 PM: Lawyer for suspect’s family holds news conference in San Diego to clarify mother’s “You have the right person comment.” She was referring to herself, and not her son.
10:17 AM: We now have an 18-second video showing James Holmes’ dazed demeanor at his court appearance this morning.
If you want to watch the entire video from Holmes’ court appearance, it’s still on loop on our live stream at KWGN.com. For some analysis of Holmes’ appearance, watch Everyday, which is streaming live on KDVR.com.
10:09 AM: The district attorney’s press conference has concluded.
Carol Chambers, Arapahoe County district attorney, on Monday urged anybody who still has information that may be pertinent in the case to contact the police or the district attorney’s office.
Asked by a reporter if any medication or sedatives had been provided by the jail to Holmes, Chambers said she had no information about it.
10:00 AM: “It’s still a very active and ongoing investigation,” Carol Chambers, Arapahoe County district attorney, said Monday.
Domestic terrorism charges would not be something state prosecutors would consider in the case, Carol Chambers, Arapahoe County district attorney, said Monday.
Victims’ families will be consulted before a decision is made on seeking the death penalty for Holmes, Carol Chambers, Arapahoe County district attorney, said. That decision is months away, she said.
Carol Chambers, Arapahoe County district attorney, said “there is no such thing as a slam dunk case” and prosecutors would be working hard to prove the charges against James Holmes.
9:45 AM: Holmes’ hair was dyed a bright orange during his court appearance Monday.
Holmes’ expression has changed little during the court hearing. He has mostly been staring off into space.
9:34 AM: Formal filing of charges will be Monday, July 30, at 9:30 a.m., the judge says.
Holmes didn’t look at the judge as the hearing started, just down as he was read his rights.
James Holmes appears before Judge William B. Sylvester. He is wearing a maroon jumpsuit.
6:15 AM: Suspect James E. Holmes is scheduled to make his first court appearance at 9:30 AM today. The 24-year-old North Aurora native is being represented by Daniel King and Tamara Brady, chief trial attorney for the state public defender.
The decision to seek the death penalty will be up to the Arapahoe County District Attorney and will come 60 days after Holmes’ arraignment. The last executions in the state of Colorado occurred in 1976.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
7:45 PM: University of Colorado-Denver Anschutz Medical Campus issues alert restricting access to areas of the campus.
6:37 PM: Crowds are gathering at the Aurora memorial vigil
5:50 PM: From @PeterBurnsRadio via Twitter:
Obama talked on @JessicaRedfield’s sports passion. Was familiar with her story. Said “she was girl with passion that was going places”
Editor’s note: Jessica was a former sports intern at FOX31 Denver.
5:34 PM: #Broncos players meet with some of the hospital staff that treated victims of the Aurora shooting victims.
5:15 PM: From Eli Stokols:
Obama campaign will keep all ads off the air through the end of this week according to the campaign. Romney is following suit. Campaign says ads will be off the air “until further notice.”
5:05 PM: This coming from CNN reporter on Twitter: @CNNValencia
NEW- #CNN confirms #JamesHolmes received a Natl. Institutes of Health-sponsored Univ. grant worth $26,000. Got monthly check for ~$2,100
4:50 PM: From @PeterBurnsRadio
Such a dichotomy of emotions after each Obama family meeting. Amazing celebrations of lives as well poignant issue discussions.
4:45 PM: From @PeterBurnsRadio
“President Obama has just come in and is sitting with each family individually. Amazing dialogue with each group.”
Burns is the morning radio host at WFAN and a close friend of Jessica Redfield/Ghawi.
4:42 PM: from @allisonsherry (Denver Post Washington Bureau)
We arrived at University of Colorado Hospital at 3:52 p.m. local as spectacular summer thunderstorm rolled in, thunder, lightening and some much-needed rain.
POTUS was escorted up to visit patients. From the hospital: Twenty-three patients were brought to the hospital in the aftermath of the Cinema 16 Aurora theater shootings July 20. Of those, one died and 12 were treated and released. Seven remain in critical condition and three in good condition, hospital officials said.
Not sure of the 12 which one died at University hospital.
Pool is holding in a cafeteria. Patients and hospital visitors are pressed across the glass on all floors taking cell phone pictures of all the black cars parked near the holding area.
4:40 PM: From Eli Stokols:
>First stop is University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, where he is
>meeting with families of victims killed in last Thursday¹s tragedy. He
>is joined by Governor Hickenlooper and Mayor Steve Hogan.
>Following the meeting, the President will make a statement to the press at
the Hospital.
>a hospital spokesman says that this hospital initially received injured
>23 shooting victims. Thirteen have been released and ten remain. Of
>those, seven are still in critical condition and three are in good
>condition.
>
>The hospital is about a five minute drive from the movie theater.
4:34 PM: Members of the Denver Broncos met with victims today
3:58 PM: Report: Denver Broncos Quarterback Peyton Manning called victims of the Aurora theater shooting.
3:50 PM: Patient updates from Denver Health Medical Center
Denver Health Medical Center received seven patients from the theatre shooting in Aurora. All patients were treated for gunshot wounds and abrasions to the extremities.
Five patients have now been treated and released. Two remain at the hospital in fair condition.
1:44 PM:
Per Aurora Police:
Update regarding the Paris Street apartment address:
The law enforcement perimeter has been reduced down to include only the building located at 1690 North Paris Street. The processing and collection of evidence inside the suspect’s apartment has concluded. Security of the building is still being maintained because of chemical hazards from the suspect’s apartment. Residents are being allowed to get personal items. When it is deemed safe, they will be allowed to return home. It is not known when this will occur for certain.
Once the building is released to the residents, the suspect’s apartment will remain sealed off to maintain scene integrity.
Update regarding crime scene at theater:
The theater crime scene is not expected to be released for up to a week. This is for evidentiary purposes for case preparation.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
9:05 PM: Police are looking for a second “person of interest” in connection with the Aurora theater shooting and suspected gunman James Holmes
8:49 PM: Per University of Colorado Hospital (as of Saturday evening):
23 patients brought to University of Colorado Hospital
12 treated and released
1 deceased (our understanding is this person has been included in death toll from Aurora Police)
7 patients in critical condition
3 patients in good condition
7:17 PM: (CNN) — President Barack Obama will be in Aurora, Colorado, on Sunday to visit with victims of a shooting rampage inside a movie theater, a White House official said Saturday.
6:47 PM: Per Aurora Police:
– All hazards have been removed.
– The FBI Evidence Response Team (ERT) remains on scene processing the apartment for evidence. This will be the case for several more hours. The FBI ERT will continue those efforts tomorrow.
– The hazards have been removed and transported to a disposal site.
– All evacuated residents can return to their homes. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF 1690 PARIS STREET. This building will remain secure for the purpose of preserving evidence.
– The only remaining street closure is in the 1600 block of Paris.
3:38 PM: The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office released the following list of victim’s names:
The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office has definitively identified 11 of the 12 victims who were killed inside the Century 16 movie theater:
Jessica N. Ghawi (11/27/1987)
Veronica Moser-Sullivan (12/23/2005)
John T. Larimer (2/16/1985)
Alexander J. Boik (9/20/1993)
Jesse E. Childress (1/5/1983)
Jonathan T. Blunk (1/20/1986)
Rebecca Ann Wingo (10/8/1979)
Alex M. Sullivan (7/20/1985)
Gordon W. Cowden (11/17/1960)
Micayla C. Medek (5/5/1989)
Alexander C. Teves (6/1/1988)
On Additional victim, Matthew R. McQuinn (3/26/1985), has been presumptively identified, but is awaiting definitive identification.
All of the families have been notified.
As of July 21, 2012, autopsies have been carried out on all of the victims. The cause of death in all cases is related to gunshot wounds. The manner of death is homicide.
The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office wishes to convey its sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the victims.
3:07 PM: FOX31 Denver reporter Mark Meredith tweets from a press briefing held by the Aurora Police Department:
#theatershooting shooting victims names could be released as early as today from coroners office.
#theatershooting police say it’s important that information comes out in court. The names of victims will be released by coroner
#theatershooting – someone how loud music went off in apartment of suspect. But police not releasing a theory of what shooter may hav wanted
#theatershooting – police: the gun purchases were legal.
#theatershooting – police: at this time this appears to be a state prosecuted case.
#theatershooting police: we simply hope to wrap up work at the suspects apartment in the 12-24 hours
#theatershooting – vigil planned 630-730 tomorrow – many people expected from Colorado political leadership.
#theatershooting police: aurora public schools has setup disaster recovery centers for victims and families.
#theatershooting chief says people shouldn’t be afraid – be able to go to the movies. “Colorado is a special place in how it helps victims”
#theatershooting aurora fire chief: we truly feel for the families and victims. Very proud of the firefighters of the response in last 48hrs
@KDVR online now #theatershooting briefing. “we sure as hell are angry about what has happened to our city” says police chief
#theatershooting police not ready to discuss any possible motive in case. Details will come out in court and not right now.
#theatershooting police: we think well be out of the movie theater by Monday. Suspects defense team to see it on Tuesday.
#theatershooting – police: no further hazards in theater. Personal effects being removed including purses wallets
#theatershooting POLICE: tip line working well. 84 leads from tips so far. Anyone with info 720-913-7867
#theatershooting – police: our suspect has had high volume of packages from last 4 months. Explains how ammunition got to suspect.
@KDVR #theatershooting – FBI says this was challenging for all involved. Both local and national asserts have been working on situation
#theatershooting FBI says suspects apartment was very dangerous situation. If someone had opened the door people may have lost their life
@KDVR #theatershooting FBI says most people who live near suspects apartment will be going home tomorrow
2:05 PM: From @CJose at the suspect’s apartment:
still active scene at apt. & the 4 surrounding buildings that are also evacuated. doesn’t appear families will return soon
12:48 PM: Aurora PD statement:
We have been successful in disabling a second triggering device through a controlled detonation.
Although NOT certain – we are hopeful we have eliminated the remaining major threats.
However, we will not know for sure until we enter the apartment.
Many hazards remain inside. We will continue to be at this location for hours collecting evidence and mitigating those hazards.
In the event that more triggering devices are found, there is a possibility of more controlled disruptions to occur.
11:47 AM: Emergency crews entered suspect’s apartment, which is filled with explosive devices and triggers. Disarming the devices will take place in three phases:
APD statement:
Most immediate threat was a tripwire rigged to the apartment’s door.
The controlled detonation was successful. Still more work to be done in the apartment to include dealing with other devices. There is a possibility of more controlled detonations. We will keep you updated. Streets open now.
Friday, July 20, 2012
10:20 PM: In addition to Jessica Ghawi, two additional victims have been identified:
AJ Boik (age unknown at this time)
Micayla Medek, 23
Alex Sullivan, 27, was celebrating his birthday the night of the shootings.
His family issued the following statement:
“The Sullivan family lost a cherished member of their family today. Alex was smart, funny, and above all loved dearly by his friends and family. Today was his 27th birthday.”
10:10 PM: “My heart goes out to the families and the victims,” Deborah Wood-Graves told FOX31 Denver on Friday. Wood-Graves frequently saw Holmes at a nearby store.
10:00 PM: Residents living at and near 1690 Paris Street remain evacuated from their homes this evening.
Evacuees are staying at Aurora Central High School.
7:50 PM: James Holmes’ family issued the following statement:
Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved. We ask that the media respect our privacy during this difficult time.
Our family is cooperating with authorities in both San Diego, California and Aurora, Colorado. We are still trying to process this information and we appreciate that people will respect our privacy.
6:33 PM: Per the incident commander at the Century 16 Theatre, citizens will not be permitted to pick up their vehicles after 7PM. They will be allowed to retrieve their vehicles tomorrow at 9AM
6:12 PM: The Aurora Coroner’s Office said it will identify the names of the dead to families at 8 p.m.
5:54 PM: Per the incident commander at the Paris Street scene. Residents of the following addresses will be able to return to their residences to pick up emergency items, such as medicine and baby items:
11948 East 17th Avenue
1686 Paris Street
1685 Paris Street
1678 Paris Street
Evacuees should meet at Paris Elementary School (1635 Paris Street) at 7PM. They will be escorted by a Police Officer and will only have a limited amount of time to pick up items. Residents will be required to show identification and no children will be permitted to enter the buildings.
NO ONE will be permitted to enter 1690 Paris Street.
5:49 PM: “Batman” director Christopher Nolan condemns shooting in the following statement via TMZ:
“Speaking on behalf of the cast and crew of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, I would like to express our profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community.
I would not presume to know anything about the victims of the shooting but that they were there last night to watch a movie. I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. MORE>>>
5:45 PM: Metro area theaters will have increased security this weekend in wake of Aurora shooting.
Several theaters are either discouraging or banning costumes.
5:38 PM: Hendrik Sybrandy reporting live from shooting suspect’s San Diego home. “Not clear if there were true warning signs” prior to shooting. James Holmes grew up in upper-middle class neighborhood.
4:46 PM: Authorities at the Aurora Medical Center have said the volume of patients they received from the Aurora theater shooting is the most extreme they’ve seen — more so, even, than the Columbine tragedy.
“We got more patients in a shorter period of time,” Center surgeon James Denton said. “We were better prepared for it. Some of our distaster planning and training served us well.”
Denton said the injuries ranged from gunshot wounds to the head, chest and abdomen, along with “substantial wounds to extremities.”
4:29 PM: We have a video interview with a man who shared beers with James Holmes at the Zephyr Lounge in Aurora. Jackie Mitchell called Holmes a ‘well-educated’ owner of an ‘intelligent smirk’
3:39 PM: Police will shut down parts of Peoria Street at 6 p.m. as they attempt to enter James Holmes’ booby-trapped apartment either with personnel or a bomb robot.
3:33 PM: There is a new report out that while James Holmes may not have been dressed like the Joker, he had colored his hair read and told police he “was the Joker.” Read the story about an earlier report from the NYPD that may have been misreported.
3:07 PM: Colorado State football recruit Zack Golditch, who was slated to be an incoming freshman for the Rams this season, was the one person who was struck by a bullet in Theater 8, the adjacent theater to where the attacks occurred.
Golditch was shot in the neck — under the ear — and the bullet passed through his body. He is currently recovering at home. We will sit down with him for an interview later today.
3:02 PM: Anyone wanting to donate to victims of the Aurora theater shooting are being urged to call 303-739-6346.
2:28 PM: Bunkley Air Force Base has confirmed that one of its four missing or injured service members has died.
2:18 PM: ABC’s Brian Ross reported earlier Friday that James Holmes might be a radical member of the Tea Party organization. ABC issued the following note retracting those statements:
“Editor’s Note: An earlier ABC News broadcast report suggested that a Jim Holmes of a Colorado Tea Party organization might be the suspect, but that report was incorrect. ABC News and Brian Ross apologize for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted.”
2:04 PM: A statement from the department of defense reports that one sailors has been injured, along with two airmen at the Aurora theater shooting. A fourth service member known to be at the theater is unaccounted for.
1:57PM: James Holmes did purchase the weapons he used in the attack legally, though he did not have a permit to carry concealed weapons. Also, Holmes is scheduled to make his first court appearance at 8 a.m. Monday.
1:42 PM: More information from the Medical Center of Aurora: The hospital has just received three additional patients. The Center does not currently have status on these three patients, but hope to provide that information shortly.
1:25 PM: According to the Associated Press, a federal law enforcement official said suspect James Holmes first bought a ticket to the movie, and then is believed to have propped open an exit door in the theater as the movie was playing. He slipped out midway through the showing, put on his ballistic gear and re-entered the theater.
1:00 PM: Shantyl Toledo, who posted one of the most trafficked YouTube video of victims on the scene of the Aurora theater shooting, emailed us and wanted to issue this apology. Apparently he’s taking quite a bit of heat for the video.
The apology featured many typos that we’ve tried to interpret and correct. This is the amended version that Toledo agrees captures the original intent of the letter:
“I would like to comment to the public stating my apology, if my shooting the video offended anyone. I just wanted to capture people’s fighting spirit at the scene. My heart goes out to families. I was in theater 16 and walked out of front door alive. Thank God.”
12:53 PM: Our Chris Parente has contacted all Denver-area cinemas. None are planning to cancel showings of “The Dark Knights Rises.” All are planning on having increased security on hand.
12:50 PM: Obama orders flags at half staff for the day in honor of Aurora movie theater shooting victims.
12:43 PM: Multiple coroner vehicles are arriving at the scene of the Aurora movie theater shooting.
12:41 PM: The Washington examiner is reporting that in the 1985 comic book, “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,” there is a scene in which a lunatic kills three people in a movie theater.
12:45 PM: CU Police are clearing some buildings on Anschutz Medical Campus as a robot is about to enter Holmes’ apartment, which is three blocks away from campus.
12:32 PM: We now have video of the 3-month-old who was released from University Hospital this morning — one of the few positive stories to come out on this tragic day.
12:24 PM: We’ve found that suspect, James Holmes was not licensed to carry firearms.
12:18 PM: All of the following information comes from Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates
Suspect James Holmes, 24, of Aurora, had one traffic summons for speeding in 2011. Other than that, he had no prior criminal record.
Within one hour of the shooting early Friday morning, there were approximately 25 officers on the scene who apprehended Holmes.
There were eventually approximately 200 officers on the scene several hours later.
Holmes was apprehended with three weapons: one was left inside the crime scene. On his person, Holmes had an AR-15 assault rifle, a Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun and a 40-caliber Glock handgun. He had another 40-caliber Glock handgun in his car.
The police have no capability of estimating the amount of shots fired. There were “many, many shots fired.”
71 people were shot — 12 are deceased. Two died at area hospitals, 10 died at the scene
We are not looking for any other suspects, “we are confident that Holmes acted alone.’
Some rounds penetrated into an adjoining theater — at least one person was struck by a bullet in the adjoining theater
The suspect was dressed in all black, ballistic attire that included throat, hand and leg covering as well as head and chest protection.
Anyone with additional information is being encourage to call a tip line at 303-739-1862. For those who feel traumatized, you can call a help line at 303-617-2300.
The crime scene is large, and includes some cars in the parking lot. The police are working to get those cars released, but “we will be (at the crime scene) for some time.”
Holmes’ Paris Street apartment is booby-trapped with trip wire, incendiary devices and chemical devises. Five buildings in the area have been evacuated.
There were four showings of “The Dark Knight Rises” at the theater. All were sold out. Police interviewed close to 200 witnesses.
Police are analyzing all social media — there are a lot of fake reports. Someone called a national media station and said he was Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates.
Police were on scene within a minute to a minute and a half of the first call and apprehended Holmes at that point.
Aurora police often station off-duty officers at the theater. They were not there last night
“We’re not going to get into why (Holmes) did what he did. We don’t have that information,” Oates said.
“There is pretty significant evidence he used the assault rifle, shotgun and handgun in the theater,” Oates aid.
Oates said that he used to work for the NYPD, but he would not comment on the NYPD report that Holmes was dressed as the Joker from the Batman franchise. “He was dressed as I described,” Oates said.
11:51 AM: Hickenlooper called the shooting an “act of a deranged mind,” in the Aurora Theater shooting press conference, which is streaming live now. We’ve also learned that the suspected gunman, James Holmes, may been dressed as the joker when he entered the theater last night.
11:46 AM: We now have a video interview with a man who was detained by Aurora Police in the Aurora Medical Center after he became enraged about the information that his 6-year-old child had been killed and his ex-wife had suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. When told that the suspected gunman was still alive, the man said “hopefully not for long.”
10:46 AM: Mitt Romney, who also cancelled his campaign events Tuesday in New Hampshire, just issued a live statement. Here are a few of his comments.
“This morning, Colorado lost youthful voices,” Romney said. “There will be justice for those responsible. But that’s another matter for another day.”
Instead, Romney said he wanted to offer these words of comfort today: “Our prayer is that the Comforter will bring the peace to the souls (of the victims and their families) that surpasses their understanding. The Apostle Paul explains: Blessed be God, who comforteth us in all our tribulations that we will be able to comfort them if they are in any trouble.”
10:27 AM: The death total has now been upgraded to 13 from 12. It had initially been reported at 14.
10:26 AM: Buckley Air Force Base confirms that the three casualties reported earlier by the Pentagon are actually injuries, not fatalities. No word on the further condition of those individuals.
10:22 AM: Of the 15 patients initially admitted to the Aurora Medical Center South, five are in critical condition. Call 303-873-5393 for a status of the patients at that location.
10:18 AM: We have now received confirmation that a 7-year-old has now been reported dead. In addition, we have learned that suspect James Holmes had no prior criminal record.
9:59 AM: We now have a 30-image photo gallery featuring everything from victims being treated on the scene to the suspects apartment and his riot gear to the plethora of police command posts that have been set up.
9:15 AM: CU-Denver Medical Campus said that suspected shooter was a student in the Fall of 2011. He was studying some form of neuroscience at the Medical Campus and withdrew in June.
9:11 AM: Police say they’ve evacuated 5 buildings near suspect James Holmes’ booby-trapped apartment. “It appears that’s sufficient at this time,” officials said. They continued to say “it could be hours, it could be days” until the apartment is ruled safe again.
9:06 AM: Police reports state the suspect in this shooting, James Holmes, moved to Colorado from San Diego to pursue a PhD. The owner of the booby-trapped apartment said that Holmes just moved in to his building.
8:58 AM: Aurora Police are saying that the third floor of James Holmes’ apartment is booby-trapped with sophisticated explosives. The entire building and surrounding area at 17th and Oswego have been evacuated.
8:53 AM: President Obama, speaking to crowd at campaign rally in Ft. Myers, Fla., offers condolences to victims’ families. He says, “There will be other days for politics. This, I think, is a day for prayer and reflection.” Obama and Romney campaigns also announce they will temporarily pull down TV ads out of respect to the victims.
8:47 AM: President Obama is speaking live now. Watch it here
8:33 PM: Morgan Freeman has released a statement via Twitter: “Deeply saddened to hear about the #theatershooting at the screen of The Dark Knight Rises. My prayers go out to the families and friends.”
8:29 PM: One of the confirmed dead, Jessica Refield, who interned here for a brief time at FOX31, wrote a blog post — now, a very chilling blog post — about narrowly escaping a deadly mall shooting in Toronto last month.
8:22 AM: Governor John Hickenlooper has released a statement.
“This is not only an act of extreme violence, it is also an act of depravity. It is beyond the power of words to fully express our sorrow this morning. Our prayers and condolences go first to the families of those killed, and we share the grief of everyone affected by this senseless event. We appreciate the swift work by local, state and federal law enforcement. Coloradans have a remarkable ability to support one another in times of crisis. This one of those times.”
8:12 AM: Children’s Hospital Colorado has received 6 victims — one child and five adults, ages 18 – 31 — from last night’s shooting at the Aurora movie theater. One patient has passed and the other five range in condition from good to critical.
8:09 AM: President Obama has cancelled his Florida campaign stop in response to the shooting.
8:02 AM: The Medical Center of Aurora received 15 patients. Call the medical Center at 303-873-5292 for information. The Center reported that 12 of the 15 patients have gunshot wounds. The three other patients had chemical exposure, and have been released. The University Hospital now has 23 patients.
7:59 AM: Watch the video of our interview with a witness who said the shooter pointed a gun in her face. She said most people in the theater initially thought the gunman was a prop — a part of the show.
7:50 AM: Of the 38 injured, nine are being reported in critical condition at University Hospital in Aurora and two are reported in critical condition at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood.
7:46 AM: We’re tracking the emotional response that’s pouring out via social media. For some of the tweets, click here.
7:40 AM: We reportedly earlier that a girl named Jessica Ghawi was reported dead along with Jessica Redfield. We’re now being told that this girl is the same person. Her mother tells us that Ghawi is her “birth name,” but that she” never went by that last name.” She always went by Redfield.
7:36 AM: Watch the emotional interview from witness Ben Fernandez, who was in theater 9, and said he saw one 12-year-old with two bullet wounds and others “covered in blood.”
7:11 AM: A 3-month-old victim was recently released from hospital. A father has confirmed his 6-year-old daughter was killed.
7:05 AM: Congressman Ed Perlmutter, whose district includes the area where this shooting took place, has just released a statement.
“I am stunned and furious at the news of the shooting at the Aurora Century 16 Movie theater this morning. Our heart and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims of this tragedy. Colorado is not a violent place, but we have some violent people. We are a strong and resilient community, and we will lean on each other in the days, weeks and months to come.”
6:58 AM: New photos of victims being treated on the scene can be found below. Also, President Obama will be addressing the shootings at his morning briefing at 9:20 a.m. this morning.
6:52 AM: The mother of suspect, James Holmes, is talking to ABC: “You have the right person,” she said, apparently speaking on gut instinct. “I need to call the police… I need to fly out to Colorado.”
6:47 AM: Refield’s friend is on the phone with us now on the live stream. Click here to watch.
6:42 AM: We are getting reports now that there are 38 confirmed wounded.
6:37 AM: The Premiere of the “The Dark Knight Rises” in Paris has been cancelled.
6:36 AM: Our Melody Mendez is reporting that another one of the 12 dead is Jessica Refield, a native of Texas who moved to Colorado last year. She interned for FOX31 for a brief time. Mendez said she was a huge sports fan, who also interned for a Denver radio station.
6:29 AM: Continue to check the top of this post for our most recent multimedia. The most recent is updated footage of this morning’s press conference with Aurora Police.
6:26 AM: The new full statement from Mitt Romney addressing the shooting: “Ann and I are deeply saddened by the news of the senseless violence that took the lives of 15 people in Colorado and injured dozens more. We are praying for the families and loved ones of the victims during this time of deep shock and immense grief. We expect that the person responsible for this terrible crime will be quickly brought to justice.”
6:15 AM: We’re now getting reports, according to scanner traffic, that a pregnant woman was shot in the chest. No further word on her condition.
6:07 AM: Pete Williams at NBC is sourcing two federal officials who are saying the name of the 24-year-old suspect in custody is James Holmes, of North Aurora.
6:00 AM: Very candid comments from Ben Fernandez, a witness who was in the theater. They will be up shortly.
5:58 AM: The identity of one girl killed in the attack has been released by a San Antonio TV station, KENS. That girl is Jessica Ghawi, a San Antonio native who has since moved to Colorado.
5:55 AM: Police say bodies of 10 victims are still at the crime scene inside the theater.
5:53 AM: Witness said “it was tear gas” that was used at the theater.
5:49 AM: Police originally said that there were 14 dead, that number has now changed to 12, per an Aurora Police press release. As of this moment, we have reports that some of the victims are as young as 12 years old.
5:45 AM: Multiple police organization have responded, including the FBI and ATF. Suspect said he had two bombs — one in his home and one in his vehicle.
5:43 AM: The gunman reportedly was also wearing a riot helmet and a bullet proof vest when he was discovered at his car int he back of the theater. He was also wearing a gas mask and carrying a handgun, a shotgun and a rifle.
5:37 AM: Some of the vehicles at hospital are being reportedly treated for chemical exposure. We’re told that most of the treatment is for tear gas.
Reports say that many of the dead are children.
5:34 AM: Police say that a fire alarm was pulled by an employee, which was the only reason anyone began evacuating the theater.
5:31 AM: Police have evacuated residents at the apartment of 17th and Oswego in Aurora, which is expected to be the apartment of the suspect. The suspect alerted police he has some explosives in the apartment.
A comment from a witness on the scene: “They said bullets were flying through the wall.” Then, gesturing to her friend, the witness said, “the girl that was sitting next to her got hit in the jaw.”
The bullets coming through the wall into theater 8 came from theater 9, where the majority of the shooting occurred.
5:30 AM: Chief Dan Oats of the Aurora Police just made a few brief comments/
Oates said the suspect in custody “made a statement to us about explosive in his residence, beyond that I have nothing more to say” about the suspect’s motivations.
Oates also answered a question referring to the possibility that there was a second shooter involved in the crime: “We have not been able to confirm reports of a second person. We have no evidence to support that right now. We are obviously very concerned about that.”
5:28 AM: The Red Cross is staffing an evacuation center at Gateway High School in Aurora with four mental health workers and a mobile feeding vehicle to help care for about 100 people who were evacuated from the scene.
5:26 AM: We’re told that the attack took place during a shooting scene in the movie, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has also issued a brief statement: “Anne and I are deeply saddened praying for families and loved ones of the victims.”
5:20 AM: President Obama has issued a statement from a campaign event in Florida.
His comments: “Michelle and I are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in Colorado. Federal and local law enforcement are still responding, and my Administration will do everything we can to support the people of Aurora in this extraordinarily difficult time.
“We are committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice, ensuring the safety of our people and caring for those who have been wounded. As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family.
“All of us must have the people of Aurora in our thoughts and prayer as they confront the loss of family, friends and neighbors, and we must stand together with them in the challenging hours and days to come.”
5:15 AM: The death toll is still standing at 14, according to Aurora Police, but police are now saying “at least” 50 people are injured. It has been reported that 10 of those 14 people died inside the theater, with four dying later at area hospitals.
A 24-year-old white male is said to have used homemade explosives in the attack. He was arrested with a shotgun, a handgun and a rifle in his possession, and he was wearing a gas mask.
If you suspect you had a loved one at the theater, call 303-739-6000 for more information. This is not an information line, but rather a line to check on possible victims of this shooting.
4:33 AM: AURORA, Colo. — At least 14 people were killed and 50 more injured in a mass shooting during a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” at an Aurora movie theater Friday.
It happened shortly after midnight at the Century 16 Movie Theaters just east of the Town Center at Aurora shopping mall near E. Mississippi Ave. and I-225.
Witnesses said the gunman came into the front of theater #9, threw a canister that released smoke, and then opened fire. people first thought the gunfire was part of the movie.
At least one person was in custody. It wasn’t known if there were more suspects. Witnesses were taken to nearby Gateway High School for questioning.
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Raw Video: Witness says shooter ‘had the gun in my face’ ||||| Police are pictured outside of a Century 16 movie theatre where as many as 14 people were killed and many injured at a shooting during the showing of a movie at the in Aurora, Colo., Friday, July 20,... (Associated Press)
A police spokesman says the gas mask-wearing suspect arrested in connection with a mass shooting in the Denver suburb of Aurora is a man in his early 20s.
Aurora police spokesman Frank Fania told ABC's "Good Morning America" Friday that investigators don't believe anyone else was involved.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates says witnesses reported the person released some type of a canister, then they heard a hissing sound and saw a gas _ and then the gunman started shooting.
Officers found the suspect near a car behind the theater and also located a gas mask, rifle, handgun and at least another weapon.
The suspect's name hasn't been released and police haven't indicated if there was a motive.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
A gunman wearing a gas mask opened fire early Friday at a suburban Denver theater at the opening of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises," killing 14 people and injuring at least 50 others, authorities said.
The gunman, who is in custody, stood at the front of the theater and fired into the crowd about 12:30 a.m. MDT at a multiplex theater in a mall in Aurora.
"Witnesses tell us he released some sort of canister. They heard a hissing sound and some gas emerged and the gunman opened fire," Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said at a news conference.
FBI spokesman Jason Pack said there's no indication in the investigation so far of any connection to terrorism.
Aurora police spokesman Frank Fania on ABC's "Good Morning America" said he didn't know yet if all the injuries were gunshot wounds. He said some might have been caused by other things such as shrapnel.
Police, ambulances and emergency crews swarmed on the scene after frantic calls started flooding the 911 switchboard, officials said.
Officers came running in and telling people to leave the theater, Salina Jordan told the Denver Post. She said some police were carrying and dragging bodies.
Officers later found the gunman near a car behind the theater.
"A gas mask, rifle, handgun at least one additional weapon (were) found inside," he said.
The suspect was taken into custody, but no name was released. Oates said there's no evidence of any other attackers. There was also no immediate word of any motive.
The suspect spoke of "possible explosives in his residence. We are dealing with that potential threat," Oates said
Police were at the Denver-area apartment and had evacuated other residents of the building. Oates did not say whether any explosives had been found.
He said police also checked for explosives in the parking lot and at the Century 16 theater and secured those areas.
President Barack Obama said he was saddened by the "horrific and tragic shooting," pledging that his administration was "committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice, ensuring the safety of our people, and caring for those who have been wounded."
Moviegoers spoke of their terror as violence erupted and people around them fell victim.
Bejamin Fernandez, 30, told the Post that he heard a series of explosions. He said that people ran from the theater and there were gunshots as police shouted "get down!"
Frenandez said he saw people falling, including one young girl.
Jordan told the paper that one girl was struck in cheek, others in stomach including a girl who looked to be around 9-years-old.
Jordan said it sounded like firecrackers until someone ran into Theater 8 yelling "they're shooting out here!"
Hayden Miller told KUSA-TV that he heard several shots.
"Like little explosions going on and shortly after that we heard people screaming," he told the station.
Hayden said at first he thought it was part of a louder movie next door. But then he saw "people hunched over leaving theater."
The police chief said 10 victims died at the theater and four at area hospitals.
At least 24 people were being treated at Denver area hospitals.
KUSA reported that some hospitalized victims were being treated for chemical exposure, related apparently to canister thrown by gunman.
Eleven people were being treated at the Medical Center of Aurora for gunshots and ranged from minor to critical condition. Two others walked in to be treated for tear gas contamination.
Denver Health had seven victims _ one in critical and the rest in fair condition.
The youngest victim reported was a 6-year-old being treated at Children's Hospital Colorado, where a total of six victims were taken. Their condition wasn't known.
Two people in critical condition were rushed to nearby Swedish Medical Center, spokeswoman Nicole Williams said.
Aurora is on Denver's east side and is Colorado's third-largest city with 327,000 residents. It is home to a large Defense Department satellite intelligence operation at Buckley Air Force Base, as well as The Children's Hospital, the University of Colorado Hospital and a future Veterans Affairs hospital. ||||| AURORA — The family of 27-year-old Alex Sullivan confirmed Friday night that he was one of 12 people killed in the mass shooting at an Aurora movie theater.
And The Associated Press was reporting that 23-year-old Micayla Medek was also among the dead. Her father's cousin, Anita Busch, said the sad news at least brought peace to the family.
The Sullivan family was notified at 8 p.m. after they had desperately searched for Alex for more than 14 hours, a release from the family said. They said it was Sullivan's birthday.
"The Sullivan family lost a cherished member of their family today," a release from the family said. "Alex was smart, funny, and above all loved dearly by his friends and family."
Sullivan is one of 12 people killed in the rampage. Fifty-eight others were wounded, 11 critically.
Another victim who has been identfied is an aspiring sports journalist Jessica Ghawi. Reports on Twitter said that her mother was asking that anyone using the microblogging service tweet under the hastag #RIPJessica because she wanted it to trend.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said about 7 p.m. on Friday that the last of the 10 bodies in the Century 16 movie complex in Aurora Town Center were removed by 5 p.m. and police hope to have identifications of the victims within the next couple of hours.
He said there were 70 casualties, including 12 confirmed dead. Two of the dead perished at local hospitals. The majority of the victims died from gunshot wounds. Many of the injuries were from bullets but a handful were the " result of the chaos and trauma in the theater."
Gov. John Hickenlooper said that as of 3:30 p.m. 30 patients remained hospitalized, with 11 in critical condition.
He called the shootings that took place during a screening of the newest Batman movie an "act that defies description."
Contact The Post If you have information or tips related to this story, please call us at 303-893-TIPS or email us at tips@denverpost.com.
The suspected gunman James Eagan Holmes, 24, was in the Arapahoe County Jail and is scheduled for his first court appearance at 8:30 a.m. Monday, according to the chief.
A prayer vigil honoring the victims was planned in Aurora for 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Oates said the suspect is believed to have purchased four guns locally in the last two months and bought ammunition and magazines for his weapons over the Internet. With the weapons employed in the shooting — an AR-15 assault-style rifle, a shotgun and a handgun — the gunman could have gotten off as many as 60 rounds a minute, Oates said.
The chief said authorities will wait until Saturday to attempt to gain entrance to the suspect's apartment in Aurora because the scene remains far too dangerous, laced with jars full of liquid and "something that looks like mortar rounds." Aurora police are working with experts from the federal government to secure the apartment.
Oates families in four of the five apartments in the complex will be allowed to return briefly this evening to retrieve necessities such as medication, but they will be directed to evacuation centers or other accommodations for the night.
The chief said two Aurora high schools will be open Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. for mental health counseling for anyone in need of services.
James Holmes (Handout courtesy University of Colorado)
The city plans a prayer vigil Sunday at 6:30 p.m. In front of the Aurora Municipsl Building.
The lone suspect in the shooting had a ticket to the midnight premiere of the newest Batman film and entered along with the crowd, investigators believe.
Then he walked out of the theater's emergency door unnoticed, investigators said, propping it open. The suspect, later identified as Holmes, allegedly returned through the same door minutes later, clad in black ballistic gear, and opened fire.
Information about the shooter's movements was first reported by multiple news agencies citing anonymous sources in Washington, D.C. A local source with knowledge of the investigation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the information.
A group of friends are overcome with emotion as they gather outside Gateway High School, Friday July 20, 2012, in Aurora. They got news that their friend was killed during a shooting, where about 50 people were shot 12 fatally early Friday inside an Aurora movie theater during a premiere showing of the new Batman movie, were taken to the high school by bus to be questioned by police. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
Bloodied moviegoers, who had gathered at midnight to see "The Dark Knight Rises," dragged one another from the chaotic smoke-filled theater 9 of the Century 16 complex.
"It was like something out of a movie," said Jacob King, who was standing in the lobby when someone carried out the motionless body of a young girl, covered in blood. "You don't want to believe it's real, but it is."
The child was handed to a police officer, who put her into the back of his squad car and sped away.
Oates said many of the shooting victims were transported to hospitals by some of the nearly 200 officers who converged on the theater complex at about 12:40 a.m. after the shooter stormed the theater with three guns and discharged two canisters of gas that clouded the room and stung people's eyes and throats.
Police arrested Holmes minutes after they arrived at the movie theater. He surrendered behind the theater, near a white Hyundai.
The gunman shot the man sitting next to Chris Ramos, 20, in the chest. Ramos is haunted by the sight of the black-clad killer standing in the corner next to the movie screen, firing away, choosing the audience's fate with each bullet.
"No care for people's ages, or male or female, or anything," Ramos said. "He was heartless. I panicked. I thought at that moment, I was going to die."
When Ramos first saw the gunman come through the exit door, he saw objects flying in the air and thought they were fake bats, all in the spirit of the hour. Then, three rows in front of him, what Ramos described as tear-gas grenades exploded and sent out a hissing cloud.
The man next to Ramos had already been shot, and others were falling. He used his own arm to jam his head down toward the floor and grabbed for his 17-year-old sister at the same time.
"People were jumping over seats, jumping on you," Ramos said.
On the floor, they felt bodies, and as they crawled, they came across a man with a bleeding leg wound. Ramos and his sister dragged him as far as they could and were eventually met in the lobby by police officers who took over.
Jordan Crofter, 19, sneaked into theater 9 even though he had a ticket for the showing in the theater next door. He wanted to sit with his friends.
When the gunman tossed a smoke canister, Crofter didn't think about getting down or being still — he just ran. He said he was first to the lobby. Crofter said the gunman appeared lackadaisical, "as calm as can be," and didn't say a word.
"He was sitting there like target practice," Crofter said of the shooter. "He was trying to shoot as many people as he could."
A friend who had been sitting in the first row, Crofter learned later, had been shot and collapsed. He did not know Friday afternoon whether his friend had lived or died.
Three weapons were used in the shooting: a 12-gauge shotgun, an AR-15 assault-style weapon and a .40-caliber Glock handgun, according to Oates. A second Glock was found in Holmes' car, but police don't know if it was used in the attack.
The weapons were bought from two local stores of national chains, Gander Mountain Guns and Bass Pro Shop, beginning in May, law enforcement officials told NBC News.
Holmes was wearing "full ballistic gear," including a helmet, vest, throat protector, gas mask and black tactical gloves, Oates said.
Oates said investigators are not able to calculate how many shots were fired in the theater but that "lots of bullets fired very quickly."
Some shots fired in theater 9 penetrated the walls of adjacent auditoriums, hitting at least one person in theater 8 next door.
Police found Holmes' north Aurora apartment booby-trapped, the same song seemingly playing on repeat on his stereo. His building in the 1600 block of Paris Street and five buildings around it have been evacuated.
Ten people died at the scene, and two others died at hospitals, Oates said. Many others were critically injured.
One of the victims died at Children's Hospital in Aurora, but officials there would not say whether it was a child or an adult. The other five patients survived, including one who is in critical condition with buckshot injuries to the back.
Two of the victims at Children's were hit with a high-velocity rifle, perhaps from 60 to 80 feet away, emergency-room physician Dr. Guy Upshaw said.
A U.S. Navy sailor who was at the Century 16 theater at the time of the shooting is unaccounted for, the Department of Defense announced Friday afternoon. The sailor was "known to have been at the theatre that evening," the Defense Department said in a statement.
One other Navy sailor and two U.S. Air Force airmen were injured in the attack, according to the statement.
The Defense Department also reported that Holmes is not and never has been a member of the military.
Police received multiple calls about the shooting beginning at 12:39 a.m. and arrived within two minutes at the complex, 14300 E. Alameda Ave.
Police say the suspect "appeared" at the front of one of the theaters showing "The Dark Knight Rises." Witnesses told The Post he entered at the right front of theater 9 less than 10 minutes into the film.
The bodies of the 10 people who died at the theater remain at the scene while police continue to investigate.
Josh Kelly, 28, was watching the movie with his girlfriend of about four years. He lost her in the chaos.
Josh called his father, Robert Kelly, from the theater and said: "I can't find my girl." In the mayhem, the darkness and the smoke, and people panicking and trampling one another, he "just lost track and he couldn't see," the elder Kelly said. "My son is freaked out."
Robert Kelly rushed to the theater after his son's call and found him outside covered in blood. Josh Kelly's girlfriend was among the fatalities, Robert Kelly said. Josh is now at home and sedated, under a nurse's care.
Outside the back exit of the theater, FBI agents have placed yellow tape and numbered evidence markers on objects in the parking lot, including a gas mask. A bloody jacket and spilled popcorn were on the pavement.
Authorities also searched a white car parked behind the movie theater, removing what appeared to be a combat helmet, a duffel bag, an ammunition clip and a vest.
After his arrest, the suspect made a statement about possible explosives in his residence.
Police have blocked off a three-block area around an apartment complex in north Aurora. Residents in the area said they were evacuated around 2 a.m. while police searched the third floor of the apartment building.
The University of Colorado confirmed that Holmes was in the process of withdrawing from the university's graduate program in neurosciences. Holmes enrolled at the university in June 2011.
Jackie Mitchell said he had drinks with Holmes a few nights ago at the Zephyr Lounge. Mitchell said the two talked about football.
Holmes was "geeky" and had a "swagger" to him, Mitchell said.
"He just didn't seem the type to go into a movie theater and shoot it up," Mitchell said. "He seemed like a real smart dude."
But Myron Melnick, the owner of Zephyr Lounge, remembers Jackie Mitchell in the bar Tuesday night, but not Holmes.
"We were not busy Tuesday night," he recalled . "I'm there seven nights a week, seven hours a night. I've talked to my bartenders, my security people, and we've never seen the guy.
"There's maybe a 2 percent chance he was there, but I don't believe it," he said.
Corbin Dates and Jennifer Seeger were sitting in the second row of the theater when Dates saw someone in the front row answer a phone call during the opening credits and walk to the emergency door in the front of the theater.
Later, a man dressed in black and wearing a gas mask and what looked like body armor entered through the same emergency exit. He lobbed two canisters, and almost instantly the theater filled with smoke.
Dates and Seeger, like others in the theater, thought the man and the smoke were all part of the show. Just as their eyes began to tear up from the smoke, the man fired a shot at the ceiling.
The gunman moved through the crowd and stopped in front of Seeger. He pointed a long rifle at her face and said nothing.
He shot at the person sitting behind her, Seeger said. "I have no idea why he didn't shoot me."
The two dived to the ground. They could feel hot shell casings hitting their legs as the tried to crawl through the dark theater now filled with smoke. Seeger's forehead has a burn from one of the casings.
Her friends urged each other and the people around them to stay quiet, desperate not to draw the attention of the gunman who was working his way up the aisle.
As she huddled on the ground, Seeger could see bodies of women and children lying around her.
Seeger, who has some EMT training, tried to help a man bleeding next to her. She worked to find a pulse but was forced to leave him behind as they tried to flee the theater.
People tried to exit through the main entrance of the theater, Seeger said. By then the gunman had worked his way to the back of the theater, shooting at people as they tried to run.
Seeger estimates she was trapped in the theater for 10 to 15 minutes. When she finally reached the lobby, she saw a police officer cocking a shotgun.
Once outside, Seeger called her father. "My dad is not a sentimental guy, but he was crying on the phone," she said.
James Wilburn also was sitting in the second row of the theater when the emergency door opened. "He was dressed in black," Wilburn said, "wearing a flak jacket and a gas mask."
The man dropped a canister to the floor that began spewing gas before he fired several rounds toward the back of the theater.
Naya Thompson, 21, said the gas spread quickly through the theater and thinks that the gunman may have dropped two canisters.
"It was like tear gas," Thompson said. "I was coughing and choking, and I couldn't breathe."
Benjamin Fernandez, 30, said he was watching the movie when he heard a series of explosions. He said people ran from the theater and there were gunshots as police shouted, "Get down!"
Fernandez said he saw people falling, including one young girl.
Brittany Romero was in theater 10 for the 12:15 a.m. showing. When the fire alarm sounded, people began throwing their popcorn and drinks in the air, assuming it was a practical joke, Romero said.
Salina Jordan, 19, was in theater 8 and saw people fall after they were shot. She said one girl was struck in a cheek, and others were wounded in the stomach, including a girl who looked to be around 9 years old.
Jordan said it sounded like firecrackers until someone ran into theater 8 yelling, "They're shooting out here!"
The police came running in, telling people to run out. Some police were carrying or dragging bodies, she said.
Meghan Walton, 20, of Boulder said she was sitting beside her friend Gage Hankins, 18 of Ohio in Theater 8 when he was shot in the arm before he was rushed out of the theater.
"I saw a whole lot of smoke in the aisle," Walton said. "I saw about three or four bullets shot near the smoke."
Walton was with 10 members of the group Friends: Association of Young People who Stutter.
"I ran outside and was holding his arm that was shot," Walton said. "My eyes were blurred by the smoke. It was like chaos. People were crying hysterically."
She counted 12 people who were bleeding. Ambulances started arriving, but there were not enough to put everyone in them.
"The worst was a man who was shot in the head. He had his hand on his head," Walton said. "They started doubling up, putting two people in the same ambulance. One girl who wasn't injured as badly was placed in a police car and rushed away."
Police set up a command post near the Dillards department store and were interviewing hundreds of possible witnesses. Many were taken by bus to Gateway High School for questioning.
Robert Jones, 28, was in theater 9 when the shooting started.
Jones said when he first saw smoke billowing from the front of the theater, he thought it was a special effect. Shots rang out almost immediately after.
"I thought it was pretty much the end of the world," Roberts said.
Roberts stayed flat on the ground until police came into the theater.
Tammi Stevens said her son, 18-year-old Jacob Stevens, was inside theater 9 when the shooting started. Stevens was waiting for her son at Gateway High School while police interviewed him.
Jacob told his mom that he saw a guy walk into the theater wearing body armor and throw some sort of cannister that then emitted some sort of gas.
"You let your kids go to a late night movie ... you never think something like this would happen," Stevens said.
President Barack Obama addressed the shooting from Fort Myers, Fla., Friday morning.
"We never understand what leads someone to terrorize their fellow human beings like this," Obama said. "Life is very fragile, and it is precious."
The president issued a proclamation Friday, ordering that all American flags be flown at half-staff until sunset on July 25.
Gov. John Hickenlooper released a statement Friday morning.
"It is beyond the power of words to fully express our sorrow this morning," Hickenlooper said. "We appreciate the swift work by local, state and federal law enforcement. Coloradans have a remarkable ability to support one another in times of crisis. This is one of those times."
In a statement released Friday morning, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said that he was "deeply saddened" by the "senseless violence."
The FBI is assisting in the investigation. Officers and deputies responded from almost every local police and sheriff's department in the metro area.
The FBI said that there was no indication that the shooting has any connection to terrorism.
Victims were transported to at least six hospitals. Several of them were rushed to hospitals in police cars. Ages of people injured and killed in the shooting vary.
Shortly after midnight, patients started arriving at the Medical Center of Aurora. A total of 15 patients — ranging from 16 to 31 years old — were sent to the medical center, 12 of them with gunshot wounds.
An additional 3 patients arrived at the hospital Friday afternoon. Information about those patients was not immediately available.
Eight of the patients have been discharged, five victims remain in critical condition and two patients are being prepared for surgery.
All of the patients came in with wounds to their torsos, heads or necks. Doctors said the wounds were caused by a high-caliber weapon or what appeared to be shrapnel.
Swedish Medical Center spokeswoman Nicole Williams says two people injured at the theater have arrived at the hospital in critical condition.
She says emergency workers said there could be several more patients.
Denver Health Medical Center treated six victims from the shooting. All were treated for gunshot wounds and abrasions. Three victims have since been released, the other three remain in fair condition, hospital officials said.
A total of 23 victims were taken to the University of Colorado Hospital. Nine of the victims are currently in critical condition.
Rep. Rhonda Fields of Aurora announced that she is hosting a prayer vigil for "any and all" at 7 p.m. The location of the vigil was changed to 14701 E. Exposition Ave.
Warner Bros. studio released a statement Friday morning saying the studio is "deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. The studio has canceled the red carpet premier of 'The Dark Knight Rises' in Paris," The Hollywood Reporter said.
Aurora police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Families looking for information about loved ones should call 303-739-1862.
Denver Post Staff Writers Eric Gorski, Kieran Nicholson, Kirk Mitchell, Michael Booth and Tegan Hanlon contributed to this report | – The gas mask-wearing suspect arrested in connection with the hellish Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting is 24-year-old local resident James Holmes, ABC News reports. The Denver Post reports that police have thus far recovered a gas mask, rifle, handgun, and at least one other weapon; they also evacuated an apartment building tied to Holmes, then began searching it. KDVR reports that the suspect apparently told police the apartment contained explosives. Officers found the suspect near a car behind the theater, reports the AP. A rep for the city's police force said investigators don't believe anyone else was involved, and they don't believe Holmes had terrorist ties. Police have not indicated if there was a motive. | [
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] |
Here are the key moments from the debate that brought Republican presidential candidates head-to-head in North Charleston, S.C. on Jan. 14. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
Seven candidates participated in Thursday's 2016 presidential debate in North Charleston, S.C.: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
The complete transcript is posted below. Washington Post reporters and readers using Genius have annotated it, and will continue to do so following the debate.
To see an annotation, click or tap the highlighted part of the transcript; if you would like to leave your own annotations, make sure you have a Genius account. Post staff annotations will appear by default; others are in a menu that you can see in the upper right when you click or tap on an annotation.
The debate began after moderators Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo introduced the candidates.
BARTIROMO: So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth -- two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world."
And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half.
The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't?
CRUZ: Well, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us.
Let me start -- I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads.
In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking.
But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage.
(APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country.
The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Governor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but (inaudible) investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable.
Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency?
KASICH: Look, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts -- if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the -- in the world.
But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest.
Right now, you don't have the -- you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations -- I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are -- they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline.
Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive.
Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: We know that recent global events have many people worried -- Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention ISIS is getting stronger.
Governor Christie, sometimes it seems the world is on fire. Where and when should a president use military action to restore order?
CHRISTIE: Well, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know?
(APPLAUSE)
The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word.
CHRISTIE: Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it.
Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a -- it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better.
The president doesn't understand -- and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton -- and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership.
I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Just to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action?
CHRISTIE: Military action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready.
And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Governor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say?
BUSH: Well first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder.
Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about ISIS being the JV team, they form a caliphate the size of Indiana with 35 (thousand) to 40,000 battle-tested terrorists. He's missing the whole point, that America's leadership in the world is required for peace and stability.
In the crowd today is Major General James Livingston, who's the co-chairman of my campaign here in South Carolina, a Medal of Honor recipient.
(APPLAUSE)
I've learned from him that what we need to achieve is peace through strength, which means we need to rebuild the military. In this administration, every weapon system has been gutted, in this administration, the force levels are going down to a level where we can't even project force. Our friends no longer think we have their back and our enemies no longer fear us, and we're in a much difficult -- we're in a much different position than we should be.
And for the life of me, I have no understanding why the president thinks that everything is going well. Terrorism is on the run, China, Russia is advancing their agenda at warp speed, and we pull back.
As president of the United States, I will be a commander in chief that will have the back of the military. We will rebuild the military to make sure that it is a solid force, not to be the world's policeman, but to make sure that in a peaceful world, people know that the United States is there to take care of our own national interests and take care of our allies.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: So I take it from that you do not agree with the president.
BUSH: No. And worse -- worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster.
Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have -- that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong.
And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. (LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Senator Rubio, the president says that ISIS doesn't threaten our national existence like a Germany or a Japan back in World War II, that the terror group is nothing more than twisted souls plotting attacks in their garages.
But House Homeland Security Committee recently said that over 1,000 ongoing investigations of homegrown extremism in 50 states. So how do you define the threat? Germany then or dangerous nut cases now?
RUBIO: Yeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever.
(APPLAUSE)
On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America.
He doesn't understand the threat in ISIS. He consistently underestimates it but I do not. There is a war against ISIS, not just against ISIS but against radical jihadists terrorists, and it is a war that they win or we win.
When I'm president of the United States, we are going to win this war on ISIS. The most powerful intelligence agency in the world is going to tell us where we are, the most powerful military in the world is going to destroy them. And if we capture any of them alive, they are getting a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we are going to find out everything they know.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Thank you, Senator.
BARTIROMO: Dr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat ISIS as a foreign army, but ISIS is neither a country nor a government. How do you attack a network that does not respect national borders?
CARSON: Well, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came.
(LAUGHTER)
You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid.
I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us.
But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Mr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life.
The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that?
TRUMP: It's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over.
(APPLAUSE)
You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a -- the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will -- some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor -- very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration.
That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on?
TRUMP: You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized -- they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 -- going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look -- a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars -- our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent?
CRUZ: Well Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually -- that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people.
So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate -- unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned.
We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack -- is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with FDIC and yes, I made a paperwork error disclosing it on one piece of paper instead of the other. But if that's the best the New York Times has got, they better go back to the well.
BARTIROMO: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAVUTO: All right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate, right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz.
Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist -- no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...
(LAUGHTER)
... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump -- and others -- have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility.
Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight?
CRUZ: Well, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue.
(LAUGHTER)
Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed.
(LAUGHTER)
But the poll numbers have.
(APPLAUSE)
And I recognize -- I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen.
If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president.
If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico.
At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on -- some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil.
Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified.
(APPLAUSE)
(UNKNOWN): Not me.
CRUZ: Because -- because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald...
TRUMP: But I was born here.
CRUZ: ... on the issue -- on the issue of citizenship, Donald...
TRUMP: (inaudible). Big difference.
CRUZ: ... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you.
TRUMP: OK, good. Because it wouldn't work.
CRUZ: You're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Mr. Trump...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: ... that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers.
TRUMP: ... first of all, let me just tell you something -- and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself -- NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll -- headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't -- so you can't -- you can't...
(BOOING)
... they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll.
(LAUGHTER)
And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So -- you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls.
(APPLAUSE)
You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one.
TRUMP: Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square (inaudible) to win this way. Thank you.
Lawrence Tribe and (inaudible) from Harvard -- of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office.
Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK?
(LAUGHTER)
The fact is -- and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field (inaudible). See, they don't like that. They don't like that.
(AUDIENCE BOOING)
No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me.
(LAUGHTER)
But -- if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Why are you saying this now -- right now? Why are you raising this issue now?
TRUMP: Because now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care (inaudible). It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
CRUZ: Neil...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: The fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because (inaudible).
I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a -- and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head.
CAVUTO: Senator, do you want to respond?
CRUZ: Well, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump.
TRUMP: You don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe.
(APPLAUSE)
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Take it from your professors...
(CROSSTALK)
CRUZ: The chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused...
TRUMP: He's wrong. He's wrong.
CRUZ: ... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary...
TRUMP: He is not the only one.
CRUZ: ... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election.
TRUMP: There are many lawyers.
CRUZ: And I'll tell you what, Donald, you -- you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot.
(LAUGHTER) I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day.
TRUMP: No -- no...
(LAUGHTER)
... I think if it doesn't...
(APPLAUSE)
I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out.
CRUZ: Actually, I'd love to get you to build a wall.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I have a feeling it's going to work out, actually.
(CROSSTALK)
RUBIO: Let me (inaudible). I was invoked in that question, so let me just say -- in that answer -- let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV.
(LAUGHTER)
But the real -- but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we -- this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system.
This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, senator.
BARTIROMO: Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address
(APPLAUSE)
BARITROMO: appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party?
TRUMP: Okay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good.
(LAUGHTER)
But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth.
One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess.
(APPLAUSE)
BARITROMO: But what are you going to do about it?
CAVUTO: Marco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well.
The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor?
RUBIO: You know, as I said already twice in this debate, we have a very serious problem in this country.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of...
CAVUTO: That is not my question.
RUBIO: Well, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is -- this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding -- less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned -- he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military.
Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda.
Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves.
So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people.
CAVUTO: Is he a liberal?
RUBIO: Our next president...
CAVUTO: Is he a liberal?
RUBIO: Unfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions.
CAVUTO: Governor?
(APPLAUSE)
CHRISTIE: I stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office.
It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too.
(LAUGHTER)
So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood.
Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges.
And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not.
When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it.
(APPLAUSE)
CHRISTIE: And the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune.
I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: Neil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well.
Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey.
Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be -- this is not being bad.
These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster.
(APPLAUSE)
Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose.
And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the -- the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton.
CARSON: Neil, I was mentioned too.
CAVUTO: You were?
CARSON: Yeah, he said everybody. (LAUGHTER)
And -- and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we -- and when I say we, Republicans -- tore themselves apart.
You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here.
BARTIROMO: Governor Kasich...
(APPLAUSE)
... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it.
So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee?
KASICH: Well, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look...
(APPLAUSE)
... and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this -- the situation, I think, Maria.
And this is what we have to -- I -- I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise -- and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years -- it's very, very difficult for them.
Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in -- in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind.
People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value.
I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high -- higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay.
(APPLAUSE)
Let me tell you that, in this country -- in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to -- keeping them from getting it.
That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never -- we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education.
And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America -- and I mean everybody in America -- having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father.
I'm president -- look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming.
And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the -- than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs.
(BELL RINGS)
It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our -- our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it.
BARTIROMO: Dr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct?
CARSON: Well, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles?
You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything -- race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity.
You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section -- you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us.
The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Well, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/(inaudible). We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the debate is going so far.
CAVUTO: We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions.
Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them?
BUSH: First of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the --
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: The Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do.
We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not -- would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens.
That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners.
Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while.
And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide.
The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.
Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America?
TRUMP: No. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now.
If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct.
We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Thank you sir.
XXX where you get Congress.
TRUMP: You get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Senator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners.
RUBIO: That sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away.
(APPLAUSE)
Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it.
I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it.
Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get -- they steal them. They get them on the black market.
And let me tell you, ISIS and terrorists do not get their guns from a gun show. These...
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
... his answer -- you name it. If there's an act of violence in America, his immediate answer before he even knows the facts is gun control. Here's a fact. We are in a war against ISIS. They are trying to attack us here in America. They attacked us in Philadelphia last week. They attacked us in San Bernardino two weeks ago. And the last line standing between them and our families might be us and a gun.
When I'm president of the United States, we are defending the Second Amendment, not undermining it the way Barack Obama does.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: But what fact can you point to, Senator -- what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's (inaudible)?
RUBIO: About every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended...
(CROSSTALK)
RUBIO: I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this.
This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment.
(APPLAUSE)
He doesn't meet -- here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Governor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws."
So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now?
CHRISTIE: No, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that.
See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important.
The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not buy signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...
(APPLAUSE)
... the fact is, Neil, let's think about -- let's think about -- and I want to maybe -- I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him.
Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors.
The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: So what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country?
CRUZ: The answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do -- done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns?
Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters -- the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case.
There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns.
And I'll note that California senator -- Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would.
And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane...
(LAUGHTER)
... that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment.
There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award...
(BELL RINGS) ... and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans -- we defeated that gun control legislation.
And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight.
BARTIROMO: Senator...
(APPLAUSE)
... let me follow up and switch gears.
Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that?
CRUZ: You know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are.
(LAUGHTER)
BARTIROMO: I am from New York. I don't.
CRUZ: What -- what -- you're from New York? So you might not.
(LAUGHTER)
But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do.
(APPLAUSE)
And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media.
And -- and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked -- my friend Donald has taken to it as (ph) advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that.
And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And -- and -- you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out.
Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now.
And his explanation -- he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation.
And -- and I guess I can -- can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying.
(LAUGHTER)
BARTIROMO: Are you sure about that?
CAVUTO: Maria...
TRUMP: So conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand.
(APPLAUSE)
And just so -- if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made -- New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people.
When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred...
(APPLAUSE)
... you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it.
And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death -- nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air.
TRUMP: And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Governor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles.
Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush?
BUSH: Well, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm.
The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were.
We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game.
Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles.
Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel --
(APPLAUSE)
... and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority.
We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Thank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business.
Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and OPEC will be back in the driver's seat.
U.S. energy player Harold Hamrie similarly told me with friends like these, who needs enemies? Do you agree?
KASICH: Well, let me -- let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you...
(APPLAUSE)
... that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved.
With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference.
We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack.
In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them.
(APPLAUSE)
KASICH: So look, in foreign policy -- in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it -- I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training.
I've seen so much of it - a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's -- deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy ISIS and I believe we can get that done.
Thank you.
CAVUTO: Thank you John.
BARTIROMO: There's much more ahead including the fight against ISIS. More from Charleston, South Carolina when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: We welcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate, right back to the questions.
Candidates, the man who made fighting ISIS the cornerstone of his campaign, South Carolina Senator, Lindsey Graham is out the race but he joins us tonight in the audience.
(APPLAUSE)
He says, "the air-strike now in their 16th month have been ineffective." Dr. Carson ...
CARSON: Wait a minute, who in their 16th month?
BARTIROMO: The air-strikes.
CARSON: OK.
BARTIROMO: Now in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops -- ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out ISIS?
CARSON: Well, there's no question that ISIS is a very serious problem, and I don't believe that this administration recognizes how serious it is.
I think we need to do a lot more than we're doing. Recognize that the caliphate is what gives them the legitimacy to go out on a jihadist mission, so we need to take that away from them.
The way to take that away from them is to talk to our military officials and ask them, "what do you need in order to accomplish this goal?"
Our decision is, then, do we give them what we need. I say, yes, not only do we give them what they need, but we don't tie their hands behind their backs so that they can go ahead and get the job done.
In addition to that...
(APPLAUSE)
... in addition to that, we go ahead and we take the oil from them, their source of revenue. You know, some of these -- these engagement rules that the administration has -- "we're not going to bomb a tanker that's coming out of there because there might be a person in it" -- give me a break.
Just tell them that, you put people in there, we're going to bomb them. So don't put people in there if you don't want them bombed. You know, that's so simple.
(APPLAUSE)
And then we need to shut down -- we need to shut down their mechanisms of funding and attack their command-and-control centers. Why should we let their people be sitting there smoking their cigars, sitting in their comfortable chairs in Raqqa?
We know (ph) to go ahead and shut off the supply routes, and send in our special ops at 2:00 a.m. and attack them everywhere they go. They should be running all the time, then they won't have time to plan attacks against us.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.'
"The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight ISIS and let Damascus fall into the hands of the Iranians. Assad has to go.'"
Governor Christie, how important is it to remove Assad from power and how would you do it?
CHRISTIE: Maria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it -- this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state -- drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack.
He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing.
This president -- and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer -- she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today?
We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight ISIS, but to prop up Assad. The fact of the matter is we're not going to have peace -- we are not going to have peace in Syria. We're not going to be able to rebuild it unless we put a no-fly zone there, make it safe for those folks so we don't have to be talking about Syrian refugees anymore.
The Syrians should stay in Syria. They shouldn't be going to Europe. And here's the last piece...
(APPLAUSE)
... you're not going to have peace in Syria with Assad in charge. You're simply not. And so Senator Graham is right about this.
And if we want to try to rebuild the coalition, as Governor Kasich was saying before, then what we better do is to get to the Arab countries that believe that ISIS is a threat, not only to them, but to us and to world peace, and bring them together.
And believe me, Assad is not worth it. And if you're going to leave this to Hillary Clinton, the person who gave us this foreign policy, the architect of it, and you're going to give her another four years, that's why I'm speaking out as strongly as I am about that.
Hillary Clinton cannot be president. It will lead to even greater war in this world. And remember this, after Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have had nearly 8 years, we have fewer democracies in the world than we had when they started.
That makes the world less peaceful, less safe. In my administration, we will help to make sure we bring people together in the Middle East, and we will fight ISIS and defeat them.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.
(APPLAUSE)
Mr. Trump -- Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue.
Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position?
TRUMP: No.
(LAUGHTER)
No.
(APPLAUSE)
Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the -- with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world.
TRUMP: I just left Indonesia -- bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb.
We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it."
And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it."
But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: Donald, Donald -- can I -- I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out ISIS. The Kurds are our strongest allies. They're Muslim. You're not going to even allow them to come to our country?
The other Arab countries have a role to play in this. We cannot be the world's policeman. We can't do this unilaterally. We have to do this in unison with the Arab world. And sending that signal makes it impossible for us to be serious about taking out ISIS and restoring democracy in Syria.
(APPLAUSE)
So I hope you'll reconsider. I hope you'll reconsider. The better way of dealing with this -- the better way of dealing with this is recognizing that there are people in, you know, the -- Islamic terrorists inside, embedded in refugee populations.
What we ought to do is tighten up our efforts to deal with the entry visa program so that a citizen from Europe, it's harder if they've been traveling to Syria or traveling to these other places where there is Islamic terrorism, make it harder -- make the screening take place.
We don't have to have refugees come to our country, but all Muslims, seriously? What kind of signal does that send to the rest of the world that the United States is a serious player in creating peace and security?
CAVUTO: But you said -- you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them.
BUSH: Yeah, they are unhinged.
CAVUTO: Well -- well, after he made them...
(APPLAUSE)
... his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now -- now, wait...
TRUMP: Eleven points, to be exact.
CAVUTO: Are you -- are you saying -- are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged?
BUSH: No, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't -- this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics.
Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was (inaudible) his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I want security for this country. OK?
(APPLAUSE)
I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world.
I want to find out why those two young people -- those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them -- people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out -- many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police?
And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that.
(APPLAUSE)
The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to -- wait a minute -- we need vigilance. We have to find out -- many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death?
There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security.
BARTIROMO: We -- we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said?
Beginning with you, Governor Kasich.
KASICH: I -- I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category.
KASICH: And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan.
We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War.
(BELL RINGS)
It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same -- call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable.
But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you,
Governor Christie, your take.
CHRISTIE: Now Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation.
I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us.
The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe.
(BELL RINGS)
And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us.
BARTIROMO: Senator Rubio, where do you stand?
RUBIO: Well, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this debate and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of ISIS.
If you listen to the State of the Union the other night, he described them as a bunch of guys with long beards on the back of a pickup truck. They are much more than that. This is a group of people that enslaves women and sells them, sells them as brides.
This is a group of people that burns people in cages, that is conducting genocide against Christians and Yazidis and others in the region. This is not some small scale group.
They are radicalizing people in the United States, they are conducting attacks around the world. So you know what needs to happen, it's a very simple equation, and it's going to happen when I'm president. If we do not know who you are, and we do not know why you are coming when I am president, you are not getting into the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz?
CRUZ: You know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism.
I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins ISIS and wages jihad against America, that you forfeit your citizenship and you can not come in on a passport.
(APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And secondly, we should pass the legislation that I've introduced...
(BELL RINGS)
... that suspends all refugees from nations that ISIS or Al Qaida controls significant territory. Just last week, we see saw two Iraqi refugees vetted using the same process the president says will work, that were arrested for being alleged ISIS terrorists.
If I'm elected president, we will not let in refugees from countries controlled by ISIS or Al Qaida. When it comes to ISIS, we will not weaken them, we will not degrade them, we will utterly and completely destroy ISIS
(APPLAUSE).
BARTIROMO: Dr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump?
CARSON: Well, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country.
That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country.
And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians.
BARTIROMO: So, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump?
BUSH: So, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies -- that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy ISIS.
I laid out a plan at the Citadel to do just that and it starts with creating a "No Fly Zone" and "Safe Zones" to make sure refugees are there. We need to lead a force, a Sunni led force inside of Syria. We need to embed with -- with the Iraqi military. We need to arm the Kurds the directly. We need to re-establish the relationships with the Sunnis.
We need the lawyers(ph) off the back of the war fighters. That's how you solve the problem. You don't solve it by big talk where you're banning all Muslims and making it harder for us to build the kind of coalition for us to be successful.
BARTIROMO: Thank you governor.
CAVUTO: Mr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods."
TRUMP: That's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong.
CAVUTO: Well...
TRUMP: They were wrong.
CAVUTO: You never said because they provided that...
TRUMP: No, I said, " I would use -- " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control -- just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us.
They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands -- you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost -- 50,000 because of China.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: So they've never said to put a tariff on their... TRUMP: We've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency.
What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount -- where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get.
What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year?
CAVUTO: I'm sorry, you lost me.
TRUMP: It's not that complicated actually.
CAVUTO: Then I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open -- are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them?
TRUMP: OK, just so you understand -- I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icon today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me.
CAVUTO: I know...
TRUMP: Carl said, "no, no -- " but he's somebody -- these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people -- we should use our best and our finest.
Now, on that tariff -- here's what I'm saying, China -- they send their goods and we don't tax it -- they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us.
I have many friends that deal with China. They can't -- when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal -- so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China.
I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of (inaudible).
I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is.
CAVUTO: So you're open to a tariff?
TRUMP: I'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade.
KASICH: Neil, Neil -- can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support NAFTA. I believe in the PTT because it's important those countries in Asia are interfacing against China. And we do need China -- Donald's right about North Korea.
I mean the fact is, is that they need to put the pressure on and frankly we need to intercepts ships coming out of North Korea so they don't proliferate all these dangerous materials. But what he's touching -- talking about, I think has got merit. And I'll allow putting that tariff or whatever he's saying here...
TRUMP: I'm happy to have him tonight...
(LAUGHTER)
KASICH: For too long -- no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job.
So when they -- be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you.
I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need -- we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy.
And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: All right.
RUBIO: But on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why.
China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer.
So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy.
It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense.
(APPLAUSE)
It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us.
How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day.
TRUMP: Neil, the problem...
BARTIROMO: We're getting...
TRUMP: ... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just -- you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer.
CAVUTO: He is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay.
BUSH: Absolutely.
TRUMP: You looking at me?
BUSH: Yeah.
BARTIROMO: Prices go higher for...
TRUMP: Can I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen.
Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing -- it's so impossible for -- you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu (ph). Kamatsu (ph) is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu (ph) tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it.
And that's why we have to use Carl (ph) and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: Here's -- apart from the -- apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation.
BARTIROMO: Yeah.
BUSH: So they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes -- the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States.
BARTIROMO: Real quick, Senator -- go ahead, Senator Cruz.
(APPLAUSE)
And then we have to get to tax reform.
TRUMP: And we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb -- I tell you what, we don't need that.
AUDIENCE: Boo.
TRUMP: We don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China.
BUSH: They're a mile away from here.
TRUMP: That's not the way the game is supposed to be played.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly.
BUSH: My name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can -- if you -- you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant.
TRUMP: No, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Mr. Trump.
BUSH: When you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the...
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor.
TRUMP: I'll check for you.
BUSH: Check it out.
(LAUGHTER)
BARTIROMO: Senator briefly.
CRUZ: Thanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered.
CRUZ: You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how -- how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist.
But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports.
So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS...
(APPLAUSE)
... and here's the critical point, Maria -- the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever.
It's tax-free -- a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers -- and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds.
The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal...
(BELL RINGS)
... tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home...
(UNKNOWN): Maria...
CRUZ: ... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women.
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: We've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the...
(UNKNOWN): Yeah, but I want to talk about taxes.
BARTIROMO: ... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back.
COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions.
(APPLAUSE)
Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020.
Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank?
CHRISTIE: Well, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's -- here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform.
If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world -- and we double tax, as you know.
And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back.
So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given -- bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money.
Bring the money -- the $2 trillion -- back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country.
It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And -- and -- and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized -- and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers.
You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively.
And remember this -- I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done.
We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists.
All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. Dr. Carson...
(APPLAUSE)
... it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America.
Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether?
CARSON: Well, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody -- no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others.
You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I -- my -- my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but -- you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar.
I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...
(LAUGHTER)
... you know, the -- the -- the fact of the matter is -- you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations -- because every regulation is a tax, it's a -- on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is.
You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up -- you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register.
And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our -- our -- our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people.
It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is -- that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.
Senator Rubio...
TRUMP: Maria -- Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs -- leave them behind.
TRUMP: They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal.
Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country.
BARTIROMO: Which is why we raised it.
Senator Rubio?
Thank you, Mr. Trump.
TRUMP: Thank you.
BARTIROMO: One of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure?
RUBIO: Well, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe.
Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees.
And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them.
Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees.
When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Thank you senator.
CRUZ: Maria, I assume that I can respond to that.
BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course.
CRUZ: Well, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good.
This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax.
If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine.
Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all...
(BELL RINGS)
... the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest.
BARTIROMO: Thank you senator.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: But that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax.
In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it.
The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees.
So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill.
And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid...
(BELL RINGS)
and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe.
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: Thank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump.
CRUZ: Maria...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
CRUZ: Maria, I'd just like to say...
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: Maria, I'd like to interrupt this debate on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements.
And the reason -- and the reason...
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: ... no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing.
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: The fact is, the reason why...
RUBIO: If you'll answer the (inaudible) core question.
CHRISTIE: ... the fact is -- the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this -- avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you.
Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this.
We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress -- this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that.
And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor.
(APPLAUSE) CARSON: Can I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Dr. Carson.
Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next.
More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Mr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first?
TRUMP: Well, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts.
I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America.
So I would -- I would be willing to do that.
BARTIROMO: So you'll put your assets in a blind trust?
TRUMP: I would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything.
BARTIROMO: Thank you sir.
TRUMP: Thank you.
CAVUTO: Governor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail."
What would you do as president to address this?
CHRISTIE: Well, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers.
That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to -- remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys.
Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back -- this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them.
And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them."
We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States.
CAVUTO: Thank you governor.
Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns?
KASICH: Well, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety.
KASICH: And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police.
KASICH: And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for -- for training.
But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not -- not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them.
At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them.
See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems.
And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope.
And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Thank you, Governor.
BARTIROMO: Senator Rubio?
(APPLAUSE)
Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years.
Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work?
RUBIO: Well, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore.
First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking -- they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border.
They're looking -- they're looking to manipulate our -- the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that ISIS cannot get killers into the United States. So whether it's green cards or any other form of entry into America, when I'm president if we do not know who you are or why you are coming, you are not going to get into the United States of America.
BARTIROMO: So your thinking has changed?
RUBIO: The issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named ISIS who were burning people in cages and recruiting people to enter our country legally. They have a sophisticated understanding of our legal immigration system and we now have an obligation to ensure that they are not able to use that system against us.
The entire system of legal immigration must now be reexamined for security first and foremost, with an eye on ISIS. Because they're recruiting people to enter this country as engineers, posing as doctors, posing as refugees. We know this for a fact. They've contacted the trafficking networks in the Western Hemisphere to get people in through the southern border. And they got a killer in San Bernardino in posing as a fiance.
This issue now has to be about stopping ISIS entering the United States, and when I'm president we will.
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Senator.
(APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: But Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Thank you, Senator.
CRUZ: It is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him -- the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks.
I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are ISIS terrorists.
RUBIO: Maria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration.
RUBIO: Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it.
And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason.
(APPLAUSE)
That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason.
(APPLAUSE)
And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense.
Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: There's -- look, there's --
CAVUTO: Gentlemen, gentlemen --
CRUZ: I'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack --
CAVUTO: Very quick, very quick. CRUZ: I'm going to -- he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your (inaudible) research folder on the debate stage.
RUBIO: No, it's your record.
CRUZL But I will say --
CAVUTO: Do you think they like each other?
CRUZ: -- at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false.
AUDIENCE: Boo.
CRUZ: So let's start -- let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship.
And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last debate, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe.
CAVUTO: All right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that.
(APPLAUSE)
Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last debate, the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well.
Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and ISIS now loom very large. The FBI says Islamic radicals are using social media to communicate and that it needs better access to communication. Now the CEO of Apple, Governor, Tim Cook said unless served with a warrant private communication is private, period. Do you agree, or would you try to convince him otherwise?
BUSH: I would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators -- back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind.
The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff --
CAVUTO: Would you answer this question?
BUSH: Oh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: Fair enough. So Tim Cook -- so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private.
BUSH: I got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit.
We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is -- that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government -- the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game.
We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector.
CAVUTO: But if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President.
BUSH: You've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, ISIS can, over these platforms, and we have no ability to have a cooperative relationship --
CAVUTO: Do you ask or do you order?
BUSH: Well, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we -- if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other -- other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this.
We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed.
CAVUTO: Governor, thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: When we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each.
Governor John Kasich, we begin with you.
KASICH: You know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play.
But all of my career, you know, having been raised in -- by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me.
Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home.
KASICH: Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind
(BELL RINGS)
And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Governor Bush?
BUSH: Who can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth.
Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy ISIS before the tragedies of San Bernardino and Paris are the right ones.
Credibility counts. There'll be people here that will talk about what they're going to do. I've done it. I ask for your support to build, together, a safer and stronger America.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Governor Chris Christie?
CHRISTIE: Maria, Neil, thank you for a great debate tonight.
When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week -- the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling.
They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it.
I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again.
I've lived my whole life fighting -- fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests.
But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again.
I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Dr. Ben Carson?
CARSON: You know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups.
We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com -- we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Senator Marco Rubio?
RUBIO: You know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God.
That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle.
But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out.
And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world.
And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country.
But if we elect the right person -- if you elect me -- we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been.
(APPLAUSE)
CAVUTO: Senator Ted Cruz?
CRUZ: "13 Hours" -- tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women.
I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women.
I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017.
CRUZ: And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Mr. Donald Trump?
TRUMP: I stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up.
And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore.
We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
BARTIROMO: Candidates, thank you.
CAVUTO: Gentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead. ||||| The 12 biggest moments of the GOP debate
A smaller cast featured harder hits Thursday, as seven top-polling Republican presidential candidates sought to leave a lasting impression with 18 days until voting begins in Iowa. Here are the most memorable moments:
1. Citizenship melee
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Ted Cruz unloaded on Donald Trump with his most forceful salvo yet, rejecting any suggestion that he's ineligible to be president because he was born on Canadian soil to an American mother. Cruz noted that many people supporting Trump's theory also believe that citizenship requires two American parents born on American soil.
"Since September the constitution hasn’t changed, but the poll numbers have," Cruz said. "I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling … but the facts of the law here are clear."
He added that if Trump's backers are right, Trump himself wouldn't be eligible because his mother was born in Scotland. "On the issue of citizenship, Donald, I’m not going to use your mother’s birth against you," he said.
2. New York values
Cruz elaborated on his recent Trump dig, accusing the mogul of having "New York values." He said he meant that New Yorkers tend to value "money and media" and are socially liberal on issues from abortion to same-sex marriage. Riffing on Trump's dig at him -- that not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba -- he charged, "Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan."
Trump delivered a somber and indignant reply, reminding the audience that New York was watched by the world as it responded to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"We rebuilt downtown Manhattan ... everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers," he said. "And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement Ted made."
3.Trump-Cruz or Cruz-Trump
The brawl over citizenship also led to an unusual exchange in which Trump and Cruz each appeared, sarcastically, to offer each other the vice presidential slot on their ticket. Trump, playing out a hypothetical, said that he might consider choosing Cruz as his running mate but that Cruz might be sued by Democrats over his citizenship.
"I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can’t take him along for the ride," he said. "I don’t like that."
Cruz replied with a joke — when he's the nominee, Trump can be his vice presidential pick, and if his citizenship theory is right, Trump will become president.
"Donald, you — you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot," he said. "I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day."
4. Cruz takes on the Times
Ted Cruz was practically salivating when moderator Maria Bartiromo asked him to respond to The New York Times report that nicked him for failing to disclose a $1 million loan from Goldman Sachs while running for Senate in 2012. Cruz quickly labeled the story a "hit piece" and thrashed the paper -- already a low-hanging conservative foil.
Cruz pointed out that he's been the subject of Times columnist Frank Bruni's ire.
"That same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the movie 'It Follows,'" Cruz said. "The New York Times and I don’t really have the warmest of relationships."
Cruz said the undisclosed loan was a "paperwork error." "If that's the best hit the New York Times has got, they better go back to the well," he said.
5. Senate squabble
Sen. Marco Rubio and Cruz locked horns late in the debate over immigration, with Rubio accusing Cruz of repeatedly changing positions for political expedience, and he didn't stop at immigration issues.
"I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance," he said. "That is not consistent conservatism"
Cruz retorted, "I appreciate you dumping your oppo research folder," to which Rubio shot back, "No, it’s your record."
6. "I hope you'll reconsider"
Jeb Bush jumped in after Trump defended his plan to ban Muslim immigration into the United States, pleading with the GOP poll leader to change his views.
"I hope you reconsider this because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out ISIS," Bush said. "The Kurds are our strongest ally, they’re Muslim."
"All Muslims? Seriously?" he asked.
Trump countered that he's simply seeking security.
"I want security for this country," he said. "We have a serious problem with, as you know, radical Islam."
7. Christie intervenes in Rubio-Cruz tussle
Rubio and Cruz criticized each other in harsh terms over their competing tax plans, a wonky clash that centered on their interpretation of value-added taxes on business.
"I’m going to side with Ronald Reagan on this and not Nancy Pelosi," Rubio charged.
Cruz countered that Reagan economist Art Laffer backed his plan. After Rubio countered again, suggesting Cruz's plan to abolish the IRS would fail, Chris Christie jumped in to remind viewers that the two senators were initially asked to talk about entitlement programs. Rubio said he'd get to entitlements, but Christie cut him off.
"You already had your chance, Marco, you blew it," he said.
8. Trump talks trade and tariffs
Donald Trump, facing questions for telling The New York Times that he'd consider a 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods, lashed out at the paper, following Ted Cruz's smackdown of the Times earlier.
"It’s the New York Times, they’re always wrong," he said.
Trump said he's "open to a tariff" but only mentioned 45 percent to suggest what the rate would have to be to offset China's currency devaluation.
"If they don’t start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so our companies can compete," he said, "I would certainly start taxing goods coming in from China."
9. Christie hurls insults at Obama
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has long aimed memorably nasty barbs at the president, and he continued Thursday, calling him a "petulant child" for pursuing executive actions to implement his favored policies. But he ratcheted up the schoolyard language in the debate.
"We are going to kick your rear end out of the white house come this fall," Christie said after pointing out that Democrats have been routed from governorships and lost their majorities in Congress throughout Obama's tenure.
10. Trump: My kids will run my company
Trump talked logistics for transferring control of his company to his kids if he takes the White House.
"If I'm elected president, I couldn't care less about my company, " he said.
“I have Ivanka and Eric and Don sitting there,” he said, gesturing toward his kids in the debate audience. “Run the company kids. Have a good time. I’m gonna do it for America.”
Trump initially suggested the arrangement would constitute a "blind trust," but then noted that might not be the case because they're his children.
11. Carson gets apocalyptic
Ben Carson criticized Barack Obama for being naive on foreign policy, but in doing so outlined a terrifying scenario in which a nuclear blast takes out America's electric grid while they're also using dirty bombs to attack and using cyber attacks to take down American computer systems.
"I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs," he said. "Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us."
12. One-way ticket to Guantanamo
Marco Rubio hinted that he'd get pretty aggressive with terrorists caught by the United States. Describing a muscular approach to taking on "radical jihadist terrorists," Rubio said he had a plan for those caught on the battlefield: "A one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay Cuba, and we are going to find out anything they know."
"It is a war that either they win or we win," he said.
Authors: | – A look at some of the lines generating buzz from each of the seven candidates in the prime-time Republican debate, via the Washington Post: Ted Cruz: "Since September the constitution hasn’t changed, but the poll numbers have. I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling … but the facts of the law here are clear." (On his eligibility to be president.) Cruz also said, “Well, Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece on the front page of the New York Times," when asked about this loan story. "You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don’t hide their views." Donald Trump: "We rebuilt downtown Manhattan ... everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement Ted made." After Cruz slammed "New York values" and said, "Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan." Jeb Bush: "If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that." Referring to Hillary Clinton. Chris Christie: "You already had your chance, Marco, you blew it." (After Rubio talked of other things when asked about entitlements.) Rubio responded, "I'll answer the entitlement question if you'll answer the Common Core question." Christie also said, “I watched story time with Barack Obama [at the State of the Union], and I got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing.” Marco Rubio: He said any "radical jihadist terrorists" captured alive would get "a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay Cuba, and we are going to find out everything they know." Ben Carson: "If my mother were secretary of the Treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation." John Kasich: "So look, in foreign policy—in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it—I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training." Rubio vs. Cruz: "I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance," Rubio said of Cruz, per Politico. "That is not consistent conservatism." Cruz responded, "I appreciate you dumping your oppo research folder," and Rubio said, "No, it’s your record." | [
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Nonetheless, the use of a chokehold in subduing a large but unarmed man during a low-level arrest raises for Mr. Bratton the same questions about police training and tactics that he faced 20 years ago, in his first stint as New York City’s police commissioner.
In 1994, the year after the Police Department banned chokeholds, a man named Anthony Baez died in the Bronx after a police officer put him in a chokehold during a dispute over a touch football game.
At City Hall on Friday, Mr. Bratton said he did not believe that the use of chokeholds by police officers in New York City was a widespread problem, saying this was his “first exposure” to the issue since returning as police commissioner in January.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, standing next to Mr. Bratton, said, “Like so many New Yorkers I was very troubled by the video,” referring to a bystander’s recording of the incident, which was posted on the website of The New York Daily News. The two police officers who initially confronted Mr. Garner have been temporarily taken off patrol duty. The police declined to name the officers but said one of them had been on the force for eight years and the other for four years.
Late Friday, the mayor’s office announced that Mr. de Blasio was postponing his family’s departure on a planned vacation to Italy from Friday evening until Saturday. The postponement was to allow Mr. de Blasio to spend more time making calls to elected officials, community leaders and members of the clergy, and talking to the police, about Mr. Garner’s death, the mayor’s press secretary, Phil Walzak, said.
The encounter between Mr. Garner and plainclothes officers, from the 120th Precinct, began after the officers accused Mr. Garner of illegally selling cigarettes, an accusation he was familiar with. He had been arrested more than 30 times, often accused of selling loose cigarettes bought outside the state, a common hustle designed to avoid state and city tobacco taxes. In March and again in May, he was arrested on charges of illegally selling cigarettes on the sidewalk.
For years, Mr. Garner chafed at the scrutiny by the police, which he considered harassment. In 2007, he filed a handwritten complaint in federal court accusing a police officer of conducting a cavity search of him on the street, “digging his fingers in my rectum in the middle of the street” while people passed by. ||||| Photo: New York Daily News
An unarmed 43-year-old father of six from Staten Island died yesterday after at least five NYPD officers choked and smothered him during an arrest. Eric Garner, who suffered from chronic asthma, diabetes, and sleep apnea, was about six-foot-four, 400 pounds, the Daily News reports, and had a history of arrests for selling untaxed cigarettes. “I’m minding my business,” he says when confronted in the deeply disturbing video shot by a neighbor. “Are you serious? I didn’t do nothin’. What’d I do?”
“Every time you see me, you’re messing with me. I’m tired of it. This stops today,” says Garner. “Every time you see me, you wanna harass me. I told you last time, please just leave me alone.”
When the officers move to arrest him, Garner struggles until he’s choked from behind by a man not in uniform, who then pushes Garner’s head into the concrete. “I can’t breathe!” says Garner in a muffled scream. “I can’t breathe!” He repeats it over and over again, at least nine times audibly. Witnesses say the incident started when Garner tried to break up a fight.
Photo: New York Daily News
An NYPD spokesperson would only tell the Daily News that Garner “was being placed in custody, went into cardiac arrest and died.” Internal affairs has launched an investigation, with Garner’s wife saying a detective has been in touch. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said, noting that he was involved “because there is wrongdoing.” That much seems obvious.
Update: In a very un-Bloomberg move, the mayor has taken to Twitter to acknowledge the incident.
On behalf of all New Yorkers, I extend my deepest condolences to the family of Eric Garner. — Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) July 18, 2014
His full statement:
On behalf of all New Yorkers, I extend my deepest condolences to the family of Mr. Garner, who died yesterday afternoon while being placed in police custody. We have a responsibility to keep every New Yorker safe, and that includes when individuals are in custody of the NYPD. That is a responsibility that Police Commissioner Bratton and I take very seriously. We are harnessing all resources available to the City to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the circumstances of this tragic incident. The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau is working closely with the Office of the Richmond County District Attorney, which is leading this investigation.
Update II: At a press conference today, Mayor de Blasio said he was “deeply troubled” after watching the Garner video.
BdB says it's too early to jump to conclusions. But he promises New Yorkers there will be a complete investigation of the incident. — Michael Howard Saul (@MichaelHwrdSaul) July 18, 2014
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton added that the chokehold “appears” to be in violation of department policies, which can be read here. ||||| (This story was originally published on July 18, 2014)
A 400-pound asthmatic Staten Island dad died Thursday after a cop put him in a chokehold and other officers appeared to slam his head against the sidewalk, video of the incident shows.
“I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” Eric Garner, 43, repeatedly screamed after at least five NYPD officers took him down in front of a Tompkinsville beauty supply store when he balked at being handcuffed.
Within moments Garner, a married father of six children with two grandchildren, stopped struggling and appeared to be unconscious as police called paramedics to the scene. An angry crowd gathered, some recording with smartphones.
“When I kissed my husband this morning, I never thought it would be for the last time,” Garner’s wife, Esaw, told the Daily News.
She got no details from police until after she had gone to the hospital to identify his body, she said.
“I saw him with his eyes wide open and I said, ‘Babe, don’t leave me, I need you.’ But he was already gone,” she said.
A family friend searching for her in the hospital ran into detectives from the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Division. The friend put them on the phone with her, the grieving widow said.
ERIC GARNER: A YEAR LATER
She spoke with a Detective Howard, who told her, “I’m sorry for your loss,” she said. He said his office was involved “because there is wrongdoing,” she said.
Police officials said Garner had a history of arrests for selling untaxed cigarettes. Cops said they observed him selling his wares Thursday on Bay St. and moved in for an arrest.
Within moments Garner, a married father of six children with two grandchildren, ceased struggling and appeared to become unconscious as police called paramedics to the scene. (New York Daily News) Within moments Garner, a married father of six children with two grandchildren, ceased struggling and appeared to become unconscious as police called paramedics to the scene. (New York Daily News) Within moments Garner, a married father of six children with two grandchildren, ceased struggling and appeared to become unconscious as police called paramedics to the scene.
An NYPD spokesman would only say the man “was being placed in custody, went into cardiac arrest and died” at Richmond University Medical Center.
But Esaw Garner and other family members said it was a trumped up claim.
“They’re covering their asses, he was breaking up a fight. They harassed and harassed my husband until they killed him,” she said. Garner’s family said he didn’t have any cigarettes on him or in his car at the time of his death.
She said she pleaded with police at the hospital to tell her what happened, but they brushed her off.
“They wouldn’t tell me anything,” she said.
An angry crowd gathered, some recording with smartphones. (Ken Murray/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
Officials confirmed that NYPD Internal Affairs officers launched an investigation Thursday night.
Records show Garner was due in court in October on three Staten Island cases, including charges of pot possession and possession or selling untaxed cigarettes.
Esaw Garner said her husband was unable to work because he suffered from a host of ailments, including chronic asthma, diabetes and sleep apnea.
Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, 65, added, “I want justice.”
'When I kissed my husband this morning, I never thought it would be for the last time,' Garner’s wife, Esaw Garner, told the Daily News. Esaw Garner holds a photo of her late husband with sons Emery (left) and Eric. (Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)
Police said Garner was not armed.
The Staten Island resident was sitting in front of Bay Beauty on Bay St. and Victory Blvd. just before 5 p.m. when two plainclothes cops began questioning him about selling untaxed cigarettes, a video obtained by the Daily News shows.
Ramsey Orta, 22, shot the shocking footage. (Ken Murray/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
“I didn’t do s---!” the 6-foot-4 Garner, wearing a sweaty T-shirt and khaki shorts, told the officers from the 120th Precinct when they approached him. “I was just minding my own business.
“Every time you see me you want to mess with me. I’m tired of it. It stops today!” he yelled.
'He’s the nicest guy. I can’t believe what I saw. That’s no way to do an arrest,' said Douglas, 50, about Garner. Douglas would only give his first name. (acquired by: TOMAS E. GASTON)
Ramsey Orta, 22, who shot the video, tried to intervene, telling the cops his friend had just broken up a fight between three men and had not been selling cigarettes.
But when backup uniformed officers arrived, the cops moved in to cuff Garner, the video shows.
“Don’t touch me, please,” he said.
Friends of Eric Garner set up a memorial at the spot where he died. (Sam Costanza) The candle memorial reads 'BIG E.' (Sam Costanza) Eric Garner recently attended the circus with friends and family members. (Sam Costanza) Eric Garner and his wife Esaw Garner. (Sam Costanza)
When Garner refused orders to put his hands behind his back, one of the plainclothes cops, wearing a green T-shirt with a yellow No. 99 on the back, got behind him and put him in a chokehold, the footage shows.
A struggle ensued as three uniformed officers joined in on the arrest, knocking the man to the ground.
He screamed, “I can’t breathe!” six times before he went silent and paramedics were called.
“They jumped him and they were choking him. He was foaming at the mouth,” Orta told The News. “And that’s it, he was done. The cops were saying, ‘No, he’s OK, he’s OK.” He wasn’t OK.”
“They were choking him. He kept saying, ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe! Get off of me, get off of me!’ and I didn’t hear any more talking after that,” said witness Valencia Griffin, 50, of Staten Island. “He died right there.”
Another witness, who would only give his first name, Douglas, said he’d known Garner for four years.
“He’s a very big man, very intimidating, but he’s just a big teddy bear,” said Douglas, 50. “He’s the nicest guy. I can’t believe what I saw. That’s no way to do an arrest.”
Eric Garner's family including (from left) son Eric, 18, daughter Erica, 24, daughter Emerald, 22, wife Esaw, 46, mother Gwen Carr, 65, and son Emery, 14, are mourning the loss of him. (Sam Costanza for New York Daily News) Eric Garner's sister, MTA bus operator Lisha Flagg, 38, wants justice for Eric Garner's death. (TOMAS E. GASTON)
At the video’s end, the cop who had choke-held Garner can be seen staring at the camera that was videotaping him.
“This had nothing to do with the fight, this had something to do with something else,” the cop said, and walked away.
A law enforcement source said the incident was troubling.
“A guy is dead in our custody. That is always a potential problem,” the source said.
With Patrick McCarron and Bill Hutchinson
UPDATE: The Staten Island district attorney is investigating the shocking death of a 400-pound asthmatic dad after a city cop placed him in a chokehold.
Eric Garner, 43, died Thursday after a sidewalk takedown by five NYPD officers making an arrest outside a Tompkinsville beauty parlor.
“My office is working along with the NYPD to do a complete and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr. Garner's death,” said District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan Jr. in a Friday statement.
Click here to read Friday's full story
rparascandola@nydailynews.com
On a mobile device? Click here to watch the video.
Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! | – An unarmed Staten Island man died yesterday after police put him in a choke-hold and he shouted "I can't breathe!" at least nine times, New York reports. Eric Garner, 43, a father of six and a grandfather, can be seen in an eyewitness video standing on a street corner when police approached him. "Every time you see me, you're messing with me," said Garner, who stood six-foot-four and weighed over 300 pounds. "I'm tired of it. This stops today. ... Please just leave me alone." But officers moved in, pinning Garner down with a choke-hold and apparently slamming his head against the sidewalk, the Daily News reports. Garner, who suffered from chronic asthma, sleep apnea, and diabetes, was dead within minutes. Police say Garner sold untaxed cigarettes, and had just been seen doing so. Garner was also due in court on three cases, including pot possession and illegal cigarette sales. But according to his wife, Esaw—and a friend of Garner's who shot the video—police really moved in because Garner had broken up a fight. Either way, Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed a full investigation (the New York Times notes that the NYPD rulebook forbids choke-holds). Meanwhile, Esaw sounds like she's still grasping what just happened. "When I kissed my husband this morning, I never thought it would be for the last time," she said. At the hospital, "I saw him with his eyes wide open and I said, 'Babe, don’t leave me, I need you.' But he was already gone." | [
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BRIT sailor, Lewis Bennett, has admitted killing his wife after their boat sunk on their Caribbean honeymoon.
The 41-year-old has pleaded guilty to the involuntary manslaughter of Isabella Hellman.
Facebook 7 Brit Lewis Bennett has admitted killing his wife Isabella
Colombian estate agent Isabella, 41, disappeared when the couple’s 37ft catamaran sank off Cuba.
Her body was never found despite a search.
Bennett, 41, had always denied killing her.
But the engineer — who lived in Florida with Isabella and daughter Emelia, two — admitted involuntary manslaughter in a Miami court tonight.
7 Hellmann's text messages have revealed that she felt Bennett did not 'respect her any more'
7 Prosecutors believe the pair had an 'intense argument' before the incident
Facebook 7 Within 24 hours of her disappearance, Mr Bennett asked for a 'letter of presumed death' so he could settle her estate
It is understood he has agreed a plea deal sparing him a murder trial.
Bennett, of Poole, Dorset, faces a maximum eight years in jail when he is sentenced on January 10.
The Florida court heard he made no effort to find his wife, instead he loaded items onto a life raft after their vessel sunk.
Prosecutors alleged he murdered Isabella for her estate and sank the boat on May 15.
He claims she was piloting the boat and he was asleep but woke up to find the vessel damaged and his new wife missing.
Bennett made a distress call five hours later and was alone when a helicopter crew pulled him from the sea.
Boca Raton Police 7 Lewis Bennett has been filmed in an emotional bust-up with the family of his wife
7 Bennett claimed he was sleeping when their boat hit something and when he went to check on Isabella, she was gone
Facebook 7 Isabella Hellmann was described as 'full of happiness and joy'
In court documents filed last week police allege Mr Bennett, 41, from Poole, Dorset, killed his wife to end “marital strife” between the couple.
And now Hellmann's text messages have revealed that she felt Bennett did not "respect her any more" and that she "found an angry person" when she came home.
Hellmann, 41, also said she was "afraid to get home", The Times reports.
Court documents detail the text messages, which also read: "Sometimes I can be a pain in the a** and more but you need to change your attitude... you make me crazy shouting, yelling, swearing... YOU ARE PUSHING ME AWAY."
Months before Ms Hellmann's disappearance, she wrote: "If you don’t like me or love me anymore let us fix this asap because is very pathetic the way you treated me all the time."
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Investigators also found he was smuggling rare coins during his rescue, worth £30,000.
He is serving a seven-month jail service for possession of the loot.
Explosive police Bodycam footage showed him rowing with his late wife's family as they confronted him over he death.
Police bodycam footage shows Lewis Bennett clashing with the sister-in-law and mum of tragic Isabella Hellmann
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. ||||| Image copyright PA/Broward Sheriff's Office Image caption Lewis Bennett was given a seven-month jail sentence for smuggling stolen coins
A British man who claimed his American wife had disappeared at sea after their catamaran sank off the coast of Cuba has admitted killing her.
Lewis Bennett and Isabella Hellmann had been married three months when she was reported missing by her husband.
Detectives later learnt that the boat had been deliberately sunk. Her body has never been found.
On Monday Bennett, 41, admitted a charge of involuntary manslaughter at a hearing in Miami, Florida.
The British-Australian dual citizen, from Poole, Dorset, had been due to stand trial in December charged with second degree murder.
But he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of unlawful killing without malice after striking a plea deal.
The couple had been sailing the 37ft (11m) catamaran from Cuba to their home in Delray Beach, Florida, when Bennett reported Ms Hellmann missing in an SOS call on 15 May 2017.
He claimed their catamaran was sinking and his 41-year-old wife was nowhere to be seen.
Image copyright US Coast Guard Image caption Bennett reported his wife missing in an SOS call as their catamaran was sinking
However, the authorities soon suspected that Bennett had killed his wife, who was the mother of his child.
In the months after her disappearance he asked for her to be declared dead.
Prosecutors alleged that he was motivated by money, as he would have inherited Ms Hellmann's apartment in Florida and the contents of her bank account.
During his rescue investigators also found that he had been smuggling stolen antique coins, worth nearly £30,000.
He had reported the coins as being stolen from a former employer in St Maarten a year earlier.
Bennett is currently serving a seven-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to transporting the coins.
He faces a maximum eight-year prison term when he is sentenced over his wife's death next year. ||||| Lewis Bennett pleads guilty to manslaughter of newlywed wife while on honeymoon in Bahamas
Updated
An Australian man whose newlywed wife went missing at sea as the couple sailed off to the Bahamas on a belated honeymoon has pleaded guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge in a US court.
Key points: Bennett, a mining engineer, had told the FBI and British journalists that he and Ms Hellmann went for a Caribbean cruise
He is an experienced sailor who received a certification from the Royal Yachting Association in the United Kingdom
He did not deploy any flares and did not search for Ms Hellmann in the water with either the catamaran or an attached dinghy
Lewis Bennett, 41, entered the plea at a hearing on Monday in Miami.
He faces a maximum eight-year prison sentence over the May 2017 disappearance of Isabella Hellmann, his wife of just three months.
US District Judge Federico Moreno set sentencing for January 10.
"Although nothing can ever erase the pain and suffering caused by Lewis Bennett's criminal acts, the US Attorney's Office and our law enforcement partners hope that the defendant's admission of guilt is a step toward justice for the victim," US Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan said in a statement.
The guilty plea means Hallmann's family may never know what happened on the night that she went missing.
Bennett, a mining engineer, had told the FBI and British journalists that he and Hellmann, a South Florida real estate agent, took their 11-metre catamaran, Surf Into Summer, for a Caribbean cruise. They left their infant daughter, Emelia, with her family in Florida.
As the catamaran passed the Bahamas on the return to Florida, Bennett sent out an emergency radio signal.
When the Coast Guard found him on a life raft three hours later, he told rescuers he left Hellmann on deck as he retired for the night to their cabin.
He said he was jolted awake when their craft hit something and that Hellmann was gone when he went outside.
He said he abandoned the catamaran in a life raft because it was sinking.
A sworn document signed by Bennett and filed in court stated he could not recall whether he called out for his wife.
He did not deploy any flares and did not search for Hellmann in the water with either the catamaran or an attached dinghy.
Nor did Bennet immediately activate any emergency equipment or call for help using his satellite phone.
It was not until Bennett boarded the life raft that he called for help and reported his wife missing, about 45 minutes after he was awakened.
Prosecutors said Bennett was an experienced sailor who received a certification from the Royal Yachting Association in the United Kingdom as a "Coastal Skipper".
The training included instruction on emergency procedures such as man-overboard protocols and night-sailing safety. His wife was not nearly as experienced.
The Coast Guard eventually located the boat. The FBI said an inspection of the catamaran showed portholes below the waterline had been opened, and damage to the twin hulls appeared to have been caused from the inside, meaning the boat may have been intentionally scuttled.
Also investigators found Bennett on the life raft with $100,000 worth of coins stolen from a yacht he had worked aboard in 2016.
Bennett pleaded guilty to the coin-theft charge and received a seven-month prison sentence.
While serving that sentence, he was charged in February with Hellmann's death and has remained jailed.
AP/ABC
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, crime, united-states, bahamas
First posted | – A British-Australian man who claimed his American wife was lost at sea when their sailing catamaran sank off the coast of Cuba has admitted to killing her. Lewis Bennett, facing a second-degree murder charge, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Miami on Monday, reports the BBC. Bennett, 41, had been sailing from Cuba to Delray Beach, Fla., with his wife of three months, Isabella Hellmann, when he sent out an SOS call on May 15, 2017. Bennett said he'd been awoken by a jolt of impact to find the boat taking on water and his wife missing. After he escaped on a life raft, however, authorities noted damage to the boat appeared to have been caused from the inside and portholes below the waterline had been opened. Text messages also revealed Hellmann was "afraid to get home," as her husband was "an angry person" who did not "respect her anymore," per the Sun. Though the guilty plea means family members may never know how Hellmann died—a body wasn't found—"the US Attorney's Office and our law enforcement partners hope that the defendant's admission of guilt is a step toward justice for the victim," US Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan says, per ABC Australia. In a statement issued through a lawyer, however, Hellmann's family says "there is nothing that Lewis can do to ease the pain he has caused them by taking Isabella from them." Bennett, who would've inherited Hellmann's apartment and bank accounts, was discovered three hours after the SOS call on a life raft with various belongings, including a tea set and $40,000 in antique coins stolen from a yacht where he'd previously worked. Now serving seven months for transporting the coins, Bennett will face up to eight years in prison at his Jan. 10 sentencing. | [
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. (Photo: KING)
SEATTLE -- A group of attorneys has filed a class action lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Transportation, claiming the billing process for bridge tolls violates due process.
For all the times a week she's driven across the 520 bridge, Amy Funchess never guessed how much she would end up owing WSDOT.
Before she got her Good To Go pass, Funchess says she traveled across the bridge many times but only received two tolling bills in the mail.
When she called Good To Go a couple months ago to ask about her balance, she was stunned with what she learned.
"Lo and behold, they told me about all these civil penalties I had. And I said 'How much would those be?' And they said 'Oh, you're up around $900.' And I about fell over in my chair," Funchess said.
Funchess, an attorney, consulted a friend, attorney Catherine Clark of Seattle, who had heard the same story from other lawyers.
"I honestly think it's people who aren't thinking the process through," Clark said.
So Clark and her colleagues, attorney Mary Anderson of Bellevue, and attorney Laurie Shiratori of Seattle, filed a class action lawsuit this week claiming WSDOT and Electronic Transaction Consultants are violating a driver's right to due process, by failing to notify her of her bills and the penalties owed for not paying them.
"It's sporadic. Some things get sent, some do not," said Clark. "The civil penalty do not refer to the toll bill that was issued. The toll bill doesn't include dates on which they are allegedly sent. It's very confusing for people and it should be that hard."
KING 5 has aired a series of stories exposing the confusion and the billing problems with Good To Go.
Clark accuses WSDOT of using a specific Washington Administrative Code as a crutch, which says "a toll bill MAY be sent to the registered owner of the vehicle."
But there is no requirement.
"The position that they take is a WAC that says we may send you a bill," said Clark. "Which suggests it's a discretionary idea. We don't think it's discretionary. We think it's a constitutional right that I'm entitled to notice or anyone is entitled to notice."
KING 5 reached out to WSDOT to comment on the lawsuit. A spokesperson said WSDOT had not yet been served.
The whole process makes Funchess reluctant to take the 520 bridge at all.
"Untrusting, to be quite honest, a little bit violated," she said. "They stole from me."
Funchess said Good To Go offered no appeals process, no payment plan, and that if she didn't pay up, Department of Licensing would not renew her tabs.
Read or Share this story: http://www.king5.com/story/news/2015/01/29/520-bridge-toll-class-action-lawsuit-billing-problems/22553149/ ||||| Originally published January 30, 2015 at 10:29 PM | Page modified January 31, 2015 at 7:36 PM
The steady drumbeat of 520 bridge toll horror stories has finally boiled over into a class action lawsuit, exactly as a judge predicted it would, five years ago.
Five years ago, when the state was setting up the photo-toll system on the 520 bridge, a local judge made an unusually bold prediction.
If you put both the toll fines and appeals process on that bridge under the control of the state roads agency, you will get sued by outraged citizens, the judge told state lawmakers in Olympia. And you easily could lose.
“Since the birth of our democracy, it has been well settled that government cannot take from its citizens without due process of law,” Barbara Linde, who was then chief judge of King County’s District Court system but who is now in Superior Court, scolded legislators at a 2010 hearing.
“In my view, it will only be a matter of time before an aggrieved citizen — and there will be many aggrieved citizens — brings a class-action lawsuit,” she said (italics mine).
Once again, the person nobody listens to turns out to be right.
On Thursday, three law firms filed exactly that class- action suit. It argues that the 520 bridge’s tolling fines and bureaucratic appeals process are so tilted against the people that they are unconstitutional, as well as in violation of consumer laws.
“People are being gouged by the government in ways no private business could get away with,” summed up attorney Mary Anderson.
The suit is derived from toll horror stories in the news for the past three years. They go like this: Commuter crosses bridge, has some glitch with photo-tolling account or never gets bills in the mail and — wham! — commuter is hit with eye-watering fines. There’s no place to appeal but a merciless administrative review set up by the transportation agency itself.
I have told some of these stories, and I hear new ones every week. (My email in-tray would be a rich class-action client pool.) The main grievance is that the state feels it isn’t obligated to send out toll bills. And that the fines, $40 on each missed toll, are so steep they can turn minor account snafus into multi-thousand-dollar collection actions.
Take Nicola Livic, of Redmond. He has a transponder on his car, linked to a credit card to automatically pay his tolls. But when his credit-card number was changed by the bank (due to a fraud issue), his online account stopped working.
No big deal. Except that the motor-vehicle department had his mailing address wrong (his ends with a box number, #44, that somehow got dropped.) So all the subsequent mailings alerting him to new tolls and his growing fines never reached him.
The total damage by the time he realized what was going on: $3,545. Less than $300 of that is for actual tolls.
When he appealed at the state Department of Transportation (DOT)’s University District office, he was told that ignorance of fines was a poor defense.
“It felt like a kangaroo court,” Livic says. “I’m culpable for not monitoring my Good-To-Go account as closely as I should. But the punishment is way out of whack for an address error that wasn’t mine.”
It used to be that a missed toll payment was like a parking ticket. You could go to a local court where an elected judge with significant leeway would hear you out.
But in 2010, the DOT requested that these cases be switched from the courts to an administrative process set up by the DOT. It enlisted administrative-law judges to staff the toll courts, but didn’t give them much flexibility on how they could rule.
Crucially, fines collected now go to the DOT. An average of $65,000 just in fines is assessed on the 520 bridge each day.
Judge Linde warned lawmakers back in 2010: You’re setting this up so DOT designs the system, issues the infractions and oversees the appeal process. Plus it gets the fine money.
“It will be anything but the independent process that citizens expect,” she said.
I’ve argued that fining people $40 for each $4 missed payment is a level of gouging you won’t see from the worst payday-loan shop. Better would be to charge no fines but attach unpaid toll bills to license-tab renewals, as they do in British Columbia. Tough but fair.
What happens now? The person who was right in the first place made a guess about that, too.
Judge Linde noted in 2010 that the inevitable class-action suit would be weighed by judges who tend to take a dim view of “tossing citizens into an administrative process.” There’s a big risk the state will lose, she said then. If so, it will put the taxpayers on the hook for “having to repay toll penalties, along with triple damages and attorneys’ fees.”
Or the state Legislature could act, now, and try to fix all this. They sure can’t say they weren’t warned.
Danny Westneat’s column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com
Four weeks for 99 cents of unlimited digital access to The Seattle Times. Try it now! ||||| . (Photo: KING)
POULSBO, Wash. -- A Poulsbo man says he is still reeling from paying his son's Good To Go bill, which amounted to more than $18,000.
Tom Rose says his son, who just got his first job, had been crossing the 520 bridge every day for work, and neglected to get a Good To Go pass.
"He thought he'd be bill later for it," said Rose. "And the way the things were going, he was living hand to mouth. He thought he was picking the lesser of two evils. He could save up and pay for them later."
Rose says his son never received a bill. He learned the total of what he owed when he tried to sell his car: more than $18,000. $1,360 in tolls, more than $16,000 in penalties.
When both father and son contacted the WSDOT's Good To Go office, they say they were told they could try to go before an administrative judge, but it probably wouldn't do them any good.
KING 5 has been hearing similar stories from other drivers. The billing has been so inconsistent with Good To Go that a group of attorneys filed a class action lawsuit this week, claiming WSDOT was violating due process. But so far, none of the cases we've heard of was worse than Tom Rose's son.
"They need to pay their tolls. We all need to do our part," Rose said. "But to not have a proper recourse, and not have the administrative process correct, is really an affront. It's almost an abuse."
We asked WSDOT to check its records. A spokesperson looked into the matter and found while they did try to send the bills out to Rose's son, the bills were returned to them. They clearly did not have a good address for the driver.
Because of that they say they are willing to work with him. Rose's son will have to pay the tolls, but they will try and find a resolution on the penalties.
"We would welcome any type of remediation in this. A second look, that would be great," said Rose.
Related: Attorneys file class action lawsuit over Good To Go billing process
Read or Share this story: http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/2015/01/30/520-bridge-good-to-go-poulsbo-18000/22623259/ | – A Washington state man received a wee shock when he saw his outstanding toll-bridge bill: more than $18,000. His dad, Tom Rose, says the young man was working his first job and crossing the 520 bridge daily without a Good to Go pass—figuring he'd pay later, KING-TV reports. But the Washington State Department of Transportation didn't have the son's right address, so no bill came in the mail. The guy only learned of the $1,360 in tolls and over $16,000 in penalties when trying to sell his car. "He was living hand to mouth," Rose says of his son. "He thought he was picking the lesser of two evils. He could save up and pay for them later." Luckily WSDOT says it's willing to strike a deal on the man's penalties, but there are other cases of high Good to Go bills. In fact, a recent class-action lawsuit claims that Good to Go billing violated due process by not always notifying a driver of her outstanding bills and penalties, notes KING-TV. Other drivers have felt WSDOT's billing wrath and learned they can't complain in local courts, where elected judges might rule in their favor; billing complaints go to a "merciless administrative review set up by the transportation agency itself," writes Danny Westneat in the Seattle Times. As for WSDOT, it has no comment on the lawsuit and says it hasn't been served yet. | [
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A general view of Taliban office in Doha before the official opening in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. In a major breakthrough, the Taliban and the U.S. announced Tuesday that they will hold talks... (Associated Press)
The Afghan president on Wednesday suspended talks with the United States on a new security deal to protest the way his government was being left out of initial peace negotiations with the Taliban meant to find ways to end the nearly 12-year war.
The move by Hamid Karzai could derail the peace process even before it has begun.
In a terse statement from his office, Karzai said negotiations with the U.S. on what American and coalition security forces will remain in the country after 2014 have been put on hold.
The statement followed an announcement Tuesday by the U.S. and the Taliban that they would pursue bilateral talks in Qatar before the Afghan government was brought in.
"In view of the contradiction between acts and the statements made by the United States of America in regard to the peace process, the Afghan government suspended the negotiations, currently underway in Kabul between Afghan and U.S. delegations on the bilateral security agreement," Karzai's statement said.
His spokesman was not immediately reachable for questions, and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said nobody was available for immediate comment.
Though the Taliban have dismissed Karzai as an American puppet for years, they indicated Tuesday when opening a new political office in Doha, Qatar, that they would be willing to talk with the Afghan leader.
But both the American side and the Taliban said they would first meet together before any talks with the Afghanistan government.
In another incident highlighting the fragile situation in Afghanistan, only hours after announcing they would hold talks with the U.S., the Taliban claimed responsibility Wednesday for an attack on the Bagram Air Base in which four American troops were killed.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgents fired two rockets into the base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, late on Tuesday. American officials confirmed the base had come under attack by indirect fire _ likely a mortar or rocket _ and that four U.S. troops were killed.
Also Tuesday, five Afghan police officers were killed at a security outpost in Helmand province by apparent Taliban infiltrators _ the latest in a string of so-called "insider attacks" that have shaken the confidence of the nascent Afghan security forces.
The opening of a Taliban political office in Doha with the intention of starting peace talks was a reversal of months of failed efforts to start negotiations while Taliban militants intensified a campaign targeting urban centers and government installations across Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama cautioned that the peace talks with the Taliban would be neither quick nor easy but that their opening a political office in Doha was an "important first step toward reconciliation" between the Islamic militants and the government of Afghanistan.
In setting up the office, the Taliban said they were willing to use all legal means to end what they called the occupation of Afghanistan _ but did not say they would immediately stop fighting.
American officials said the U.S. and Taliban representatives will hold bilateral meetings in the coming days. Karzai's High Peace Council had been expected to follow up with its own talks with the Taliban a few days later but it was now not clear whether that would happen.
The Taliban announcement followed a milestone handover in Afghanistan earlier Tuesday as Afghan forces formally took the lead from the U.S.-led NATO coalition for security nationwide. It marked a turning point for American and NATO military forces, which will now move entirely into a supporting role.
The handover paves the way for the departure of the majority of coalition forces _ currently numbering about 100,000 troops from 48 countries, including 66,000 Americans _ within 18 months.
The NATO-led force is to be cut in half by the end of the year, and by the end of 2014 all combat troops are to leave and be replaced _ contingent on Afghan governmental approval _ by a smaller force that would be on hand for training and advising.
It was not immediately clear how long Karzai planned to suspend the negotiations on the agreement.
The U.S. has not yet said how many troops will remain in Afghanistan, but it is thought that it would be a force made up of about 9,000 Americans and 6,000 allies.
Six years ago, Afghan security forces numbered fewer than 40,000, and have grown to about 352,000 today. But questions remain if they are good enough to fight alone.
In the Helmand attack late Tuesday, local official Mohammad Fahim Mosazai said five police officers who had only been on the local force for three months were killed, apparently by five of their fellow officers. He blamed the killings on Taliban infiltrators, and said the suspects escaped with the victims' weapons.
In a similar attack in Helmand a week ago, six policemen were found shot dead at their checkpoint, and there have been several other such incidents in the past year, including officers poisoned while eating.
Taliban insurgents have warned they would infiltrate Afghan security forces to carry out insider attacks.
Overnight in the eastern province of Nangrahar, police ambushed Taliban fighters outside a village in the Surkh Rod district, killing four and capturing two militants. Two police officers were wounded in the fighting, said deputy provincial police chief Masoon Khan Hashimi. ||||| KABUL, Afghanistan — In a bid to regain control of a peace process with the Taliban that had suddenly spun out of control, President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday slammed the brakes on two strategic lines of American negotiation, again exercising his power in a strained alliance and getting results.
Mr. Karzai reacted in fury after an apparent diplomatic breakthrough on Tuesday — the opening of a Taliban peace office in Qatar — instead became a publicity coup for the Taliban. In televised images that horrified many Afghans, the Taliban introduced what appeared to be an embassy, raising their flag, speaking in front of a sign declaring the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” the name of their former government and seeking international exposure.
First, Mr. Karzai broke off long-term security talks with the United States, accusing the Americans of failing to deliver on promises to keep the Taliban from grandstanding. Soon after, his office announced that the government delegation would stay away from the talks until the insurgents removed their symbolic displays of being an alternative government.
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The president’s gambit appeared to work: In a turbulent 24 hours of nonstop diplomatic moves, Secretary of State John Kerry called Mr. Karzai three times and successfully pushed the Qatari government to get the Taliban to take down the sign and flag, American and Afghan officials said.
“The office must not be treated as or represent itself as an embassy or other office representing the Afghan Taliban as an emirate government or sovereign,” said the State Department spokeswoman, Jennifer R. Psaki.
However, there was much to repair from the events of the past two days, and many Afghan political figures expressed a sense of having been betrayed by both the Americans and the Taliban.
Through it all, Mr. Karzai again showed his willingness to halt American initiatives unilaterally when his allies displeased him, as he did earlier this year in forcing them to hand over detention operations and banning American Special Operations forces from a strategic district.
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However, the American response was much faster and complied unambiguously with Mr. Karzai’s demands this time, in part because they struck directly at two of the most critical parts of the Obama administration’s long-term vision for Afghanistan: entering peace talks with the Taliban to help curb the insurgency as Western troops withdraw and reaching an agreement to allow a lasting American military force past 2014.
At the same time, it became increasingly apparent that the Taliban, at little cost in binding promises or capital, were seizing the peace process as a stage for publicity and giving the Americans a stark lesson in the complications that could be posed by the diplomatic overtures.
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The rapid-fire developments Wednesday came a day after the American military formally handed over control of security in all of Afghanistan to Afghan forces, followed hours later with the three sides’ announcement that peace talks would begin in Doha.
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The opening was hailed by American officials as a breakthrough after 18 months of stalled peace efforts, though they cautioned that a long road remained ahead.
Meanwhile, the Taliban played to the cameras.
The insurgents opened their Doha office with a lavish ceremony that included a ribbon cutting and the playing of the Taliban anthem, with the Qatari deputy foreign minister in attendance. The Taliban said they intended to use the site to meet with representatives of other countries and the United Nations, to interact with the news media, “improve relations with countries around the world” and, almost as an afterthought, meet “Afghans if there is a need.” They did not mention the Afghan government.
Some of the other language the Taliban used closely followed the American framework for peace talks. The insurgents appeared to agree — as they have in the past — to distance themselves from Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, saying the Taliban’s aims were only within Afghanistan and they did not support the use of Afghan soil to plot international attacks.
Still, it was the insurgents' presentation of themselves as a government that angered Afghan officials, and they clearly felt they were being sidelined in the peace process. Indeed, Afghan officials had been worried enough that the Taliban might act out that they had demanded, and received, a letter from President Obama guaranteeing that the office would not look like an embassy and confer legitimacy, said Aimal Faizi, the Afghan president’s spokesman.
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The White House would not confirm or deny the existence of the letter. But an administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that Mr. Obama had sent one offering such assurances.
Later Wednesday, at the comfortable new villa housing the Taliban office in the West Bay district of Doha, evidence of the American diplomatic scramble could be seen: the white Taliban flag and the Islamic emirate sign had both been taken down. And Qatari police forces were stationed outside.
But Hashmatallah Moslih, a former adviser to Burhanuddin Rabbani, the Afghan government peace envoy killed in 2011 by a Taliban assassin, said the insurgents had already won an important battle.
“Through those pictures of the Taliban flag waving in the air and the banner on the office, it took people to see two countries, two flags, two legitimacies,” he said in an interview in Doha. “The damage is already done.”
As for the Taliban office, he said he expected that it would remain open, and that that had been the aim of the Taliban all along. “One of the reasons they did it was to rehabilitate the Taliban, to make them palatable enough for elections,” he said.
American officials said the initial discussions with the Taliban that had been planned for Thursday in Doha had been called off. But some American officials had traveled to Qatar, and officials expressed hope that after the scramble on Wednesday, the talks could be resumed soon with the Afghan government delegation taking part as well.
In describing the Taliban’s initial overture, American officials said it as relatively sudden, signaled by Qatari officials toward the end of May. That timing, too, was surprising: Taliban forces in Afghanistan had been stepping up their attacks as summer neared, bloodying Afghan Army and police forces who have been taking the lead in security operations as American troops stepped back to a support role.
Almost as a reminder that the Taliban, too, could borrow a page from the “fight and talk” American road map in Afghanistan, insurgents struck within hours of the Doha office opening. Militants tripped a deadly ambush on an American convoy near the Bagram Air Base north of the Afghan capital, killing four American soldiers, Afghan officials said. | – Taliban insurgents aren't letting up the fight in Afghanistan despite the opening of an office for peace talks. Four American troops were killed in a rocket attack on a convoy near Bagram Air Base just hours after the Taliban office opened its doors in Qatar, the New York Times reports. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as Afghan forces formally took charge of the country's security. In another setback for hopes of stability, President Hamid Karzai announced that the Afghan government was pulling out of talks on a new security deal with the US, the AP reports. The move is believed to be a protest at his government being sidelined by US-Taliban talks, though his official statement said only that the pullout was in response to the "contradiction between acts and the statements made by the United States of America in regard to the peace process." | [
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NEW YORK (AP) — Target shoppers found out this weekend that when stores make deals to carry merchandise from high-end designers for a limited time, it can be, well, really limiting.
The discounter partnered with the Lilly Pulitzer brand to carry a collection of 250 pieces for a fraction of the price of the Palm Beach designer's original merchandise. But the offer, which included $38 pink shift dresses and $25 beach towels, was wrought with long lines in stores, quick sellouts online and other problems.
It shows the challenges stores face when they offer limited-time collections. These lines typically consist of cheaper versions of designer pieces and are sold for a short period of time. They generate buzz from aspirational buyers who want to don upscale brands as well as avid wearers of the labels themselves. But the high demand can be a double-edged sword: Often, customers encounter picked-over merchandise and website snafus.
Target, which pioneered these partnerships in the 1990s and has been followed by rivals like H&M, Gap and Kohl's, started selling the Lilly Pulitzer collection on Sunday online at about 4 a.m. EST and at stores at 8 a.m. EST. Demand was so heavy that Target took the site offline for 20 minutes, which caused angry chatter on social media. Ultimately, the items sold out online within a few hours and at many of the 1,800 stores within a half hour.
Target apologized for the online snafu, noting an "inconsistent experience for our guests." And spokesman Joshua Thomas said pieces could still be found at stores.
"We felt good about the amount of product, but you just don't know until you give customers a chance to shop," Thomas said.
Despite the issues, many experts say Target's Lilly Pulitzer collection was a success. "I think this was a huge success not only because Target sold out but because everyone was talking about them," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at market researcher NPD Group.
Here are three challenges retailers face with limited-time partnerships:
HARD TO PREDICT DEMAND
Stores and analysts say it's hard to gauge what shoppers will actually buy since those items haven't ever been sold before.
There was lot of buzz leading up to Target's launch of its limited-time partnership with Neiman Marcus in 2012. Target increased production in anticipation of a sales blowout, but Target shoppers thought the line was too expensive, while well-heeled Neiman Marcus customers didn't think it was high quality. Several weeks later, prices were slashed more than 50 percent.
SOCIAL MEDIA CAN HURT
Shoppers are increasingly turning to social media to air their complaints.
Target drummed up so much hype around its collection with upscale Italian designer Missoni in 2011 that its web site crashed and was shut down for most of the day of the launch. Shoppers voiced frustrations online and then threatened to boycott Target weeks later on social media because their online orders were being delayed and canceled.
"Social media is like a megaphone," said Craig Johnson, a retail consultant.
AFTER MARKET SELLERS
Some shoppers use these partnerships to profit by selling the stuff on eBay.
For instance, there were sold-out Lilly Pulitzer items selling for at least three times Target's original prices on eBay. That frustrates shoppers who want to buy items just for themselves. "I think it's sad that it can't be a fun experience," said Meredith Forbes, 21, who was at Target's East Harlem, New York, store Sunday.
Target's Thomas said just 1.5 percent of the total Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection was on eBay.
_____
Follow Anne D'Innocenzio at http://www.Twitter.com/adinnocenzio ||||| The preppy clothes made by Lilly Pulitzer are infantilizing and unflattering, says Post fashion critic Robin Givhan, but maybe that's part of their charm. (Tom LeGro/The Washington Post)
The debut of the Lilly Pulitzer collection for Target was a spectacular feat of retailing that had very little to do with the quality of the fashion that the mass marketer was selling. Lilly Pulitzer is not fashion. It is clothes. The classic Lilly Pulitzer dress comes in shrill shades of yellow and pink that are vaguely infantilizing. They are clothes that can be shrunk down and worn by 7-year-old girls without changing a single design element — if there were actual design elements to change. But there are not.
Lilly Pulitzer is preppy. It is part of a preppy uniform that announces itself from fifty paces. It is not so much a declaration of wealth as it is a perceived statement about class, lineage and attitude. Anyone can work hard and save up enough cash to go out and purchase a Chanel suit or a Gucci handbag. A devoted student of Vogue can cobble together a personal style that speaks to its public identity. But Lilly Pulitzer suggests an advantage of birth. The clothes stir up scrapbook notions of ancient family trees, summer compounds, boarding school uniforms, and large, granite buildings inscribed with some great-great-grandfather’s name. Lilly Pulitzer represents something that money cannot buy.
“Lilly Pulitzer is not fashion. It is clothes.” (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Target)
The clothes are, upon close inspection, not so terribly attractive. Actually, they are rather unattractive. And that is part of their charm. They are not meant to be stylish — that’s so nouveau. The clothes are clubby. Country clubby. One-percent-ish.
Target created a feeding frenzy of shoppers lured by cheap versions of A-line sheaths that are mostly distinguished by their swirling, colorful prints rather than by silhouette, fabric, craftsmanship or creativity. The massive lines, crashing Web sites and lust-filled tweets under #LillyForTarget are less proof of shoppers’ discerning taste than evidence that folks love a whiff of leisure-class exclusivity, a brand name and a bargain — however that might be defined.
Target has a long history of these limited-edition collections, which have included such rarefied fashion names as Jason Wu, Altuzarra, Rodarte and Missoni. These collections whipped customers into a near-fugue state of consumption because the merchandise was limited and buyers could get a smidge of the design house’s distinctive sensibility for a significant discount. A Rodarte dress normally costs a customer anywhere from $3,000 on up. But most everything in the Target collection was less than $100. The Missoni collection at Target included housewares bearing the Italian brand’s distinctive and colorful zigzag pattern. A high-end Missoni pillow costs about $300. Target was selling them for about a tenth of that price. Those are jaw-dropping deals. And it was good-looking merchandise, too.
In this March 16, 1965 photo, fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer wears her own design and creation of the Lilly shift, in Palm Beach, Fla. Pulitzer, known for her tropical print dresses, died in Florida at 81. (Robert H. Houston/AP)
But Lilly Pulitzer isn’t that kind of designer collection. The brand was founded in 1959 by the label’s namesake — a bored, rich housewife who had started an orange juice stand in Palm Beach. One day, she brought along several simple chemise dresses — which had been constructed by her dressmaker from fabric that Pulitzer had purchased at Woolworth. The dresses were a hit, and the easy, but constructed shape, helped define the style of a generation of women in the 1960s. The clothes were perky and chaste and bore an aristocratic name.
“There is, however, always a big difference between the uncomplicated Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress, the Halston Ultrasuede shirtwaist or other icons of style, and all the competition. Pulitzer invented nothing; she is hardly a designer,” wrote the late fashion historian Richard Martin in his compendium on American fashion. Pulitzer died in 2013.
[Lilly Pulitzer’s fashion line for Target debuted Sunday — and basically sold out Sunday]
Today, a simple Lilly Pulitzer dress is about $200. A Target version is about $40. That’s a bargain, for sure, but not that exceptional. One might expect to find nearly as good a deal by waiting for a sale at Neiman Marcus. Time, after all, is not of the essence. Lilly Pulitzer is classic. It is always hanging on a rack somewhere, everywhere, in all of its pineapple-print, feel-good, preppy psychedelia.
But who has time to pull out a calculator and get involved in fractions when pink dresses are flying off the racks — virtual and real — and shoppers are overwhelmed by the fear of missing out? It must be a good deal if everyone is going this bonkers, right?
Discerning eyes go blurry at the prospect of a bargain. And as much as people pooh-pooh the allure of designer this-and-that, shoppers continue to find validation from the name on the label inside their clothes. Sometimes that label rightfully stands for quality — a confirmation that a purse is hand-made or a dress has been stitched just so. But in the case of Lilly Pulitzer for Target, the label isn’t a promise of enduring quality, unique style or specialized fit.
The chest-thumping is about having gotten something that others missed out on, something that was ephemeral. Target distinguished itself once again as a retailing dynamo. But what it was selling this time had nothing to do with fashion. | – Target paired with fashion line Lilly Pulitzer over the weekend to offer a limited collection, and it was a smash success from a retail point of view. Online merchandise sold out within hours, reports AP, while most shoppers at physical stores ended up out of luck. Those in the latter camp shouldn't feel too bad about it, writes fashion critic Robin Givhan at the Washington Post. Lilly Pulitzer is a mass marketer of clothes, not fashion, she writes. And "the clothes are, upon close inspection, not so terribly attractive." In fact, "they are rather unattractive," writes Givhan. "And that is part of their charm. They are not meant to be stylish—that’s so nouveau. The clothes are clubby. Country clubby. One-percent-ish." Remember that the company itself was created by a bored Palm Beach socialite—she died in 2013—and its summer dresses reflect that. "The classic Lilly Pulitzer dress comes in shrill shades of yellow and pink that are vaguely infantilizing. They are clothes that can be shrunk down and worn by 7-year-old girls without changing a single design element—if there were actual design elements to change. But there are not." Those disappointed Target shoppers may be cursing their luck at missing out on bargain prices for what they think is high fashion. But really, they just got swept up in a this-many-people-can't-be-wrong phenomenon. Target again proved it's "a retailing dynamo," writes Givhan. "But what it was selling this time had nothing to do with fashion." Click for her full column. | [
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This Aug. 25, 2016 booking photo provided by the Metropolitan Detention Center shows Fabian Gonzales. Albuquerque police are charging Gonzales along with two other people in the death of a 10-year-old... (Associated Press)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It was in early morning darkness that officers scrambled to sort out the chaos at an Albuquerque apartment complex where a couple had reportedly been attacked, the woman bleeding from a head injury and the man with a black eye and wearing blood-stained shorts.
The woman told officers her 10-year-old daughter was still inside apartment number 808 from which they had escaped.
What the officers didn't know was that the child was already dead, her battered and dismembered body partially wrapped in a blanket and set ablaze.
With the fire alarm blaring, they busted in the front door and searched the smoke-filled apartment for Victoria Martens. In the bathroom, the real crime began to come into focus.
Investigators took into custody the girl's mother, her boyfriend and his cousin.
The community was left struggling to understand how a blossoming elementary school student who loved swimming and gymnastics could have been the target of such violence.
Details of what New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and law enforcement officials described as an unspeakable crime emerged in a criminal complaint made public Thursday. Police said Victoria was injected with methamphetamine, sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed before being dismembered.
The killing happened on the day Victoria was going to celebrate her 10th birthday.
"This homicide is the most gruesome act of evil I have ever seen in my career," Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden Jr. said.
The girl's mother, 35-year-old Michelle Martens, her 31-year-old boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, and his 31-year-old cousin, Jessica Kelley, face charges of child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. Gonzales and Kelley also face charges of criminal sexual penetration of a minor.
Gonzales denied having involvement with Victoria's death while reporters yelled questions at him as he was led out of the police station in handcuffs late Wednesday. The girl's mother said nothing as she taken from the police station to a police cruiser and driven away.
Kelley on Friday was booked into the county jail after being released from the hospital for injuries that stemmed from her jumping from the apartment's balcony in an effort to evade police. She probably won't make her initial court appearance until Saturday, said court spokeswoman Camille Baca.
Bail was set at $1 million each for Martens and Gonzales at their first court appearance Thursday afternoon. The two did not speak in court, and the public defense lawyer who represented them did not comment about the allegations.
As news spread about Victoria's death, neighbors and friends built a makeshift memorial under a tree near the apartment complex, adorning it with stuffed animals and candles. Some hugged while others cried and prayed.
In the evening, dozens of people gathered for a candlelight vigil and the shrine grew.
Christie Zamora said Victoria attended her gymnastics class every Saturday and always seemed happy.
"She was incredibly social," Zamora said. "It's just so tragic."
Another shrine was erected at Petroglyph Elementary School, where Victoria had just started the new school year.
School officials said in a statement that, like the rest of the community, their hearts ache. "Victoria is in our thoughts and prayers as we hold our children just a little tighter on this sad day," the statement read.
Neighbors said Victoria's mother worked at a nearby grocery store deli and they were shocked to see a mugshot of her in an orange jail jumpsuit.
Mugshots of Martens and Gonzales released by police showed them with bruises on their faces. According to the complaint, Gonzales said his cousin hit him and Martens with an iron, prompting him to jump over the balcony and run to a neighboring apartment for help. Martens also found her way outside.
Police initially went to the apartment complex early Wednesday after the neighbor reported the disturbance.
Victoria's mother told police she met Gonzales online about a month ago and that he drugged the girl so he could calm her down and have sex with her, the complaint said.
Gonzales pleaded no contest to a charge of child abandonment in 2015. He was not being monitored by probation officers because New Mexico Department of Corrections officials were unaware of a judge's order requiring supervised probation, said corrections spokeswoman Alex Sanchez.
Tim Korte, a spokesman for Albuquerque's 2nd District Court, said court records show the judgment mandating probation monitoring for Gonzales was sent to the corrections department in 2015.
Kelley's record includes battery, domestic violence and drug charges. The Albuquerque Journal reported that Kelley acted as a lookout while a woman allegedly raped another inmate at a regional detention center in 2012.
Martens told police she allowed Kelley to stay in her apartment after Kelley was recently released from prison.
Online court records show no criminal history in New Mexico for Martens.
___
Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at www.twitter.com/russcontreras and Susan Montoya Bryan at www.twitter.com/susanmbryanNM ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | – It was in early morning darkness that officers scrambled to sort out the chaos at an Albuquerque apartment complex where a couple had reportedly been attacked, the woman bleeding from a head injury and the man with a black eye and wearing blood-stained shorts. The woman told officers her 10-year-old daughter was still inside apartment number 808 from which they had escaped. What the officers didn't know was that the child was already dead, her battered and dismembered body partially wrapped in a blanket and set ablaze. With the fire alarm blaring, they busted in the front door and searched the smoke-filled apartment for Victoria Martens. In the bathroom, the real crime began to come into focus, the AP reports. Investigators took into custody the girl's mother, her boyfriend, and his cousin. The community was left struggling to understand how a blossoming elementary school student who loved swimming and gymnastics could have been the target of such violence. Details of what New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and law enforcement officials described as an unspeakable crime emerged in a criminal complaint made public Thursday. Police said Victoria was injected with methamphetamine, sexually assaulted, strangled, and stabbed before being dismembered Wednesday—her 10th birthday. The girl's mother, 35-year-old Michelle Martens, her 31-year-old boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, and his 31-year-old cousin, Jessica Kelley, face charges of child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping, and tampering with evidence. Gonzales and Kelley also face charges of criminal sexual penetration of a minor. Martens told police she met Gonzales online about a month ago and that he drugged the girl so he could calm her down and have sex with her, the complaint says. Per KOB, Martens says Gonzales then strangled the girl and Kelley stabbed her in the chest. | [
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WASHINGTON — President Trump, by demanding on Friday that European allies agree to rewrite the Iran nuclear deal within 120 days or he will kill it, set himself a diplomatic challenge that would be formidable even for an administration with a deep bench of experienced negotiators.
For Mr. Trump, who has filled his national security ranks with retired military officers and allowed his State Department to languish, the challenge is even more profound. And it is not limited to Iran: The North Korea crisis has taken a sudden turn toward diplomacy, with the unexpected opening of talks between the North and the South.
On both fronts, current and former officials say, the Trump administration is being forced to rethink strategies that had been driven largely by military considerations. Many say the White House is ill equipped to deal with the prospect of a South Korean détente with the North’s Kim Jong-un or the recent eruption of political unrest in Iran.
The antigovernment protests in Iran have complicated Mr. Trump’s calculations about whether to rip up the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, several officials said. While the unrest has made the president even more determined to punish the Iranian leadership, it has also reinforced the conviction of European leaders that the deal should be preserved. ||||| President Donald Trump is designating 14 Iranian individuals and entities with new sanctions unrelated to the nuclear deal, including the head of Iran’s judiciary. | Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images Trump extends Iran nuclear deal again
President Donald Trump is once again extending the Iran nuclear deal, but Trump will "terminate” the agreement unless Congress and European allies agree to strengthen it, Trump said in a statement Friday.
"This is a last chance," Trump said. "[E]ither fix the deal’s disastrous flaws, or the United States will withdraw."
Story Continued Below
The decision is a temporary victory for Trump's national security team, which has spent months trying to persuade a president who despises the nuclear deal that abandoning it would be a self-inflicted foreign policy calamity.
The statement implicitly sets a mid-May deadline for the deal's fate. That is when Trump must again choose, as he did Friday, whether to waive economic sanctions on Tehran which come up for renewal every 120 days.
The Obama administration suspended those sanctions were suspended in July of 2015 as part of the agreement negotiated with Iran and five other nations that imposed limits on Iran's nuclear program, which experts said had neared nuclear weapons capability.
Facing a separate deadline that appears every 90 days, Trump declined — as he first did in mid-October — to certify that Iran is complying with the nuclear deal, despite the conclusion of international inspectors to the contrary.
Though relieved by its temporary extension, the nuclear deal's supporters remain nervous about its prospects. Trump's decision "keeps the deal on life-support for now but puts it on a path toward collapse," said Philip Gordon, a former Obama national security official who advised Obama on the negotiations.
Trump is also targeting 14 Iranian individuals and entities with new sanctions unrelated to the nuclear deal. They include an elite Iranian military cyber unit and the head of Iran’s judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, whose brother is the speaker of Iran's parliament. Larijani was named in response to Iran's harsh repression of recent nationwide protests, and show that the sanctions "go to the top of the regime" and the the U.S. "is not going to tolerate the continued violation of the rights of their citizens," as one official put it.
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Some hawkish administration officials and advisers had hoped that the popular protests in Iran, which erupted last month but have largely quieted after a regime crackdown, might prompt Trump to pull the plug on the nuclear agreement. But that was not the counsel of his top national security officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
While they are not fans of the nuclear agreement — joined by France, Germany, Great Britain, China and Russia — those officials believe the costs of a unilateral withdrawal by the U.S. that is opposed by its allies is too high and outweighs what many experts consider the unrealistic prospects of negotiating a stricter deal.
The spotlight now turns to Congress, which Trump insists must pass legislation imposing new restrictions on Iran, as well as to the European parties to the deal, whose support Trump is demanding.
"No one should doubt my word," Trump said in his statement. "I hereby call on key European countries to join with the United States in fixing significant flaws in the deal, countering Iranian aggression, and supporting the Iranian people. If other nations fail to act during this time, I will terminate our deal with Iran."
Trump's statement set out specific criteria for Congress, including a provision requiring "immediate" access to Iranian facilities by international inspectors; and an explicit declaration that the U.S. sees Iran's long-range ballistic missile program and its nuclear program as "inseparable."
Trump also insisted upon a undefined guarantee "that Iran never even comes close to possessing a nuclear weapon." But a senior administration official told reporters that means that Iran "remains above a one-year breakout timeline," which is what the deal currently mandates.
Trump also said that any new Congressional provisions must have no expiration date. Most key provisions of the nuclear deal sunset in the next decade, which critics say will allow Iran to quickly resume its progress toward a nuclear weapon.
McMaster has been negotiating potential new legislation with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), but with nothing to show in public so far. European leaders have also been generally dismissive about imposing new nuclear-relation demands on Iran, saying the agreement cannot be renegotiated. Tehran insists that any efforts to impose new conditions on its nuclear programs amount to an abrogation of the deal and has threatened to resume its nuclear program at peak capacity in response.
Cardin said on Friday that he and Corker have underscored to the administration “that we want to be helpful“ but added that Trump’s point-blank series of demands may have made their job harder.
The provisions that Trump insisted on “would require discussions with our European allies and with Congress,” Cardin told POLITICO. “It would be more helpful if he laid it out in a framework rather than the manner in which he has in his statement.”
Corker and Cardin have both signaled openness to attaching any Iran measure they can agree on to a must-pass legislative vehicle, a strategy that would avoid the political minefields of a stand-alone debate on the nuclear pact. Congress is likely to consider a new spending package as soon as next month and may also take up legislation raise the debt limit in March.
But the senators’ talks remain in early stages, and any bill they produce will likely face resistance from Democrats who don't believe the deal should be tampered with as well as Republicans who want even tougher action.
Gordon expressed skepticism that a legislative fix or transatlantic offering can salvage the deal.
"Europeans and Congressional Democrats may look for ways to give Trump something to keep him from implementing his threat to kill the deal in four months, but cosmetic changes may not be enough," Gordon said. "And even if they do go along with unilateral changes in the administration’s stance, it’s hard to see how Iran fails to respond with unilateral steps of its own.
James Jeffrey, a former deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush White House now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, called such assessments too dire. Jeffrey said that Trump's demands can be met without violating the nuclear deal.
“Trump is leaving the door open to staying in the agreement if France, Germany and the UK work with Washington,” Jeffrey said.
In a statement, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel (D-NY), was skeptical about prospects for a legislative fix.
“[W]e need to put to rest the canard that Congress can somehow unilaterally change the deal," Engel said. "Any legislation that affects America’s adherence to the deal would make us the country walking away from our commitments. Like it or not, we need to uphold our end of the bargain so that we can hold Iran to its obligations and crack down on the regime’s other destabilizing activities.”
Diplomacy Works — a group of former Obama national security officials including former Secretary of State John Kerry and his former chief Iran negotiator, Wendy Sherman — denounced Trump's decision in a statement Friday.
"Today we learned that the President’s plan includes bullying our allies into fundamentally altering the terms of a deal that they know is working for our mutual security and have publicly stated they have no interest in amending," they said, warning that "a U.S. move to violate or withdraw from the nuclear deal undermines the transatlantic relationship and our alliances of first resort, which are vital across a broad range of policies -- from bedrock economic issues to confronting terrorism."
Elana Schor contributed reporting ||||| President Trump “still strongly believes this was one of the worst deals of all time,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
President Trump on Friday kept alive the Iran nuclear deal he detests by waiving sanctions for the third time, but he said he will not grant another reprieve unless the agreement is amended to permanently block a potential pathway for Iran to build nuclear weapons.
In conjunction with the waivers, the Treasury Department placed sanctions on 14 people and entities for alleged offenses unrelated to Iran's nuclear industry. The new measures concern human rights abuses and censorship in Iran and the arming of groups throughout the region.
Trump's decision avoided placing the United States in violation of the commitments it made in the landmark 2015 deal. But he affirmed his willingness to withdraw from it in a few months unless changes are made.
"Despite my strong inclination, I have not yet withdrawn the United States from the Iran nuclear deal," Trump said in a statement. "Instead, I have outlined two possible paths forward: either fix the deal's disastrous flaws, or the United States will withdraw."
Critics of the deal deemed the president's decision "an opportunity to do better," as Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called it.
But supporters expressed skepticism that the deal will survive in its current form. Trita Parsi, head of the National Iranian American Council, called it a "temporary stay of execution."
"In a nutshell, he's saying, 'Kill the deal with me, or we'll kill it alone,' " said Robert Malley, who worked on the National Security Council under President Barack Obama.
Trump blamed Iran for a litany of alleged malign activities, including support for terrorist groups and the "murderous regime" of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and torture, mass arrests and oppression at home.
Trump said his strategy for confronting Iran through sanctions and support for Iranian political freedom "stands in stark contrast to the policy and actions of the previous administration."
"President Obama failed to act as the Iranian people took to the streets in 2009. He turned a blind eye as Iran built and tested dangerous missiles and exported terror. He curried favor with the Iranian regime in order to push through the disastrously flawed Iran nuclear deal," he said.
[‘He threw a fit’: Trump’s anger over Iran deal forced aides to scramble for a compromise]
Iranian officials warned that a U.S. withdrawal from the deal would spell its doom.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter that "Trump's policy & today's announcement amount to desperate attempts to undermine a solid multilateral agreement."
"JCPOA is not renegotiable," he said, using an abbreviation for the deal's formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. "Rather than repeating tired rhetoric, US must bring itself into full compliance — just like Iran."
As a signatory to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has committed to not building nuclear weapons, even after the restrictions on its program lapse, and it is entitled to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Trump listed his conditions for legislation that would address future U.S. participation and called on European allies "to join with the United States in fixing significant flaws in the deal, countering Iranian aggression, and supporting the Iranian people."
"If other nations fail to act during this time, I will terminate our deal with Iran," warned Trump, who will revisit the decision in 120 days.
Officials said the administration will discuss the changes it is seeking with Europeans but will not talk directly with Iran.
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (Md.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Trump's statement an "ultimatum" and said the president is "making negotiations with Europe more difficult by the way he's laying out the conditions."
All parties to the accord would have to agree to any changes. That is highly unlikely. The Europeans, who consider the deal a great success contributing to their security, have said that Iran's non-nuclear behavior must be addressed separately.
The changes Trump has demanded include timely inspections of all sites requested by the International Atomic Energy Agency, reflecting a concern that Iran could be conducting nuclear research clandestinely at military sites.
Trump also wants to terminate the phased expiration dates of various limitations placed on Iran's nuclear program. Sometimes called "sunset provisions," many of them lapse 10 to 15 years in the future. Trump wants them to continue indefinitely so that the United States can rapidly resume sanctions if Iran is ever found to be cheating.
Rep. Eliot L. Engel (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the demands are unattainable.
"The Trump administration's policy announced today sets impossible standards that would ultimately isolate the United States rather than isolating the regime in Tehran," he said.
"Like it or not, we need to uphold our end of the bargain so that we can hold Iran to its obligations and crack down on the regime's other destabilizing activities."
Some of the new sanctions announced by the Treasury Department are a response to crackdowns on anti-government protests and blocking access to social media sites.
The entities sanctioned include Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace and its subsidiary, the National Cyberspace Center, which police the Internet, restricting access to websites that challenge the regime.
The sanctions with the most political repercussions are against the administrative head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Amoli Larijani. A hard-line cleric appointed by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Larijani is a highly influential member of Iran's most powerful political family. His older brother, Ali Larijani, is the speaker of Iran's parliament.
Iran's judicial system is notoriously repressive, and the country remains one of the world's leading executioners. According to the European Union, which placed its own sanctions on the judiciary chief in 2012, Sadegh Larijani has "personally signed off on numerous death penalty sentences."
"Naming and shaming Sadegh Larijani is one small way the U.S. can bring its human rights policy and coercive economic strategy against Iran into greater alignment," said Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.
Other sanctions target companies accused of conducting prohibited transactions with Iranian entities. Malaysia-based Green Wave Telecommunications was named for providing U.S. technology to Iranian companies.
The Treasury Department also listed several Chinese individuals and companies for breaking similar rules to provide materials to Iran that could be used in navigation and weapons systems. Two Iranian companies that build and maintain the nation's military helicopters also are on the list.
"The designations today politically go to the top of the regime and send a very strong message that the United States is not going to tolerate their continued abuses, continued violations of the rights of their citizens," said an administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under rules for briefing reporters.
Erin Cunningham and Bijan Sabbagh in Istanbul and Karoun Demirjian in Washington contributed to this report. | – He called it "the worst deal ever," and on Friday he extended it for the third time during his presidency, the New York Times reports. A senior administration official tells Politico that President Trump once again chose not to reinstate the sanctions that were suspended as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Friday was the deadline to do so. However, Trump apparently warned it would not happen again. “The president makes clear this is the last such waiver he will issue,” an official tells the Washington Post. The next deadline for reinstating the sanctions against Iran is in May, and the official says Trump will do so and remove the US from the nuclear deal at that time unless European allies agree to changes to the deal meant to permanently stop Iran from building nuclear weapons. Those changes include adding "triggers," such as inspections of Iranian facilities, and removing "sunset clauses" that allow Iran to enrich uranium and more. While not reinstating sanctions related to the nuclear deal, Trump did impose new sanctions on 14 Iranian people and organizations in response to recent violence against protesters there. | [
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Cleveland Heights, Ohio — THERE is no song called “I Left My Heart in Cleveland.” Cleveland is the flip side of California and the Golden State Warriors, whom they have met in the last two N.B.A. finals. The former Cleveland Cavaliers basketball coach David Blatt once said: “We’re in Cleveland. Nothing is easy here.” Then he got fired.
Sunday night Cleveland came back from a three-games-to-one deficit to beat Golden State and win the N.B.A. championship. I was born in Cleveland, my father was born in Cleveland, my children were born in Cleveland, and we’ve all seen many, many losing teams — 52 years’ worth, if you’re counting. And we’re counting here in Cleveland. The last time Cleveland won a championship was the 1964 National Football League Championship. My dad took me. I was in Section 18, Row T, Seat 8 of Municipal Stadium.
Two years ago, when LeBron James announced his return to Cleveland from Miami in Sports Illustrated, some Cleveland men teared up. My middle-aged friend Jimmy and I did. So un-Cleveland — those tears. The credo here is “Cleveland: You’ve Got to Be Tough,” from a T-shirt first printed in the 1970s when the boy-mayor Dennis Kucinich ushered the city into default.
James wrote: “Before anyone ever cared where I would play basketball, I was a kid from Northeast Ohio. It’s where I walked. It’s where I ran. It’s where I cried. It’s where I bled. It holds a special place in my heart. People there have seen me grow up. I sometimes feel like I’m their son.” ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| After Cleveland's win in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, the only Cavaliers player who was anywhere near as emotional as LeBron James was J.R. Smith. Smith cried on the court and this image started making the rounds on social media almost immediately:
But those weren’t the only tears Smith shed on Sunday night. Far from it, actually. After the Cavaliers collected the Larry O’Brien Trophy and went back to their locker room, Smith held a post-game press conference, and he was extremely emotional throughout it. His tears continued to flow throughout his presser, as he talked about how much his family means to him and what they've done to help him overcome adversity. It was easily one of the best moments of the entire NBA Playoffs. Watch it, here:
Here’s a transcript of Smith’s speech, which included a portion devoted specifically to his father:
That Smith’s press conference took place on Father’s Day made it all the more special.
Plenty of people had jokes about Smith being an NBA champion on Twitter after the game:
JR Smith bout to throw a hell of a party. — Twan (@Twan_Priceless) June 20, 2016 I can only wish one day I'll party as hard as JR smith does tonight — sean brannagan (@seanbraggs36) June 20, 2016 I would pay an unlimited amount of money to be able to party with Jr Smith tonight — Nick Johnson (@nick_johnson019) June 20, 2016
But the things he said during his press conference really summed up what being an NBA champion is all about. And all jokes aside (we've made a lot of them, too, over the years), it's nice to see how much winning a title truly means to a player like Smith. ||||| Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
LeBron James was anointed as a transcendent, generational star while he was still in high school. He’s been the best player in basketball for most of the 13 years he’s been in the league—a four-time MVP, a 12-time All-Star, and already the 11th-leading scorer in NBA history by the age of 31. He’s the most physically gifted player of all time, faster and more skilled than anyone with his size and strength. And yet on Sunday night, a few minutes after he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to their first-ever title, James said, “I don’t know why the man above give me the hardest road.” The now three-time NBA champ spoke the truth.
Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals felt like a rock fight staged inside an enormous pothole. Steph Curry, the unanimous MVP, shot 6 for 19 from the field and finished with more turnovers than assists. His fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson shot 6 for 17 from the floor and 2–10 from 3-point range. LeBron himself shot just 9 for 24 and led both teams with five turnovers. After he scored six straight points to put the Cavs up 89–87 with 4:52 to go, James missed four shots in a row, each of which would’ve given Cleveland back the lead. On the other end, the Warriors missed their last nine shot attempts. The only player on either team who made a field goal in the last 4:39 was Kyrie Irving, whose 3-pointer with 53 seconds left turned out to be the game-winner in Cleveland’s 93–89 victory over Golden State.
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This is the thing about the NBA and legacies and greatness: In this series, LeBron was about as dominant as any basketball player can be, and he never came close to controlling his team’s fate. If one of the best offensive teams in history managed to score any points at all in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter … if Curry didn’t throw a dumb behind-the-back pass out of bounds … if Kyrie Irving had clanged that long jumper instead of knocking it in, then this story probably wouldn’t include the phrase “three-time NBA champ.”
James led both teams in the NBA Finals in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. He scored 41 points in Game 5, 41 more in Game 6, and put up a triple-double in Game 7. With a little less than two minutes on the clock, he chased down Andre Iguodala and made the block of the century to keep the game tied.
A couple of minutes later, he nearly destroyed space and time with a game-clinching dunk over Draymond Green. That would've been fitting, for the best player in the world to seal one of the most significant victories in NBA history with one of the greatest dunks ever.
But Green fouled him, hard, sending James to the line. He flicked his jammed right wrist and made one out of two free throws, giving the Cavs the two-possession lead they wouldn't relinquish. This was less spectacular but somehow more appropriate. LeBron soared over everyone, got knocked out of the sky, and had to pull himself off the ground to lock up his franchise's biggest victory.
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But to bring a championship to Cleveland, the best player in the game needed a couple of breaks. This is the reality of professional sports, and it’s because of that reality that I’ve rooted for LeBron James for the past 10 years. Players play to win championships, and fans and writers evaluate them based on whether they succeed. It’s unfair, but it’s what makes the games we watch so thrilling. Since winner-takes-some is never going to be a thing, those of us who want one of the best players we’ve ever seen to get the respect he deserves have no choice but to hope he gets the bounces he needs to make his résumé unimpeachable.
LeBron led the first-ever comeback from 3–1 down in the NBA Finals. He beat the greatest regular-season team ever. He came back to his home state of Ohio and won a championship for the most star-crossed sports city in the United States. That block on Iguodala isn’t the block that kept the game tied before Steph Curry went off and won his second title in a row. It’s the Block. If he wasn’t before, LeBron James is now, rightfully, a basketball legend.
It’s been a hard road for LeBron James. It was a hard road to get nicknamed “the Chosen One” as a high school junior, then get criticized even as he exceeded every unrealistic expectation. It was a hard road to get drafted by his home-state team, and be expected to do what no other player in any sport had done for Cleveland since 1964. It was a hard road to leave Ohio for another, better opportunity, and to have his jersey burned by the fans that had claimed to love him. It was a hard road to come back, to forgive Dan “Comic Sans” Gilbert, and to say he was “ready to accept the challenge” of winning a championship with the Cavaliers. It was a hard road to play without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving in last year’s finals. It was a hard road at times to play with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving—the star power forward who can’t play defense and the star point guard who sees the game as a 48-minute one-man show with occasional intermissions during which other people are allowed to touch the ball. It was a hard road to lead a team that might not have even made the postseason without him.
Winning a championship in any sport is hard. An NBA championship is harder to win than most. There are no hot goaltenders or dominant starting pitchers. The playoffs aren’t a crapshoot; they’re a gauntlet. You can’t luck your way to an NBA title. You can’t hoist the trophy by relying on grit and guile. You have to be the best, or very, very close to the best, and hope that this is one of the years in which that’s good enough. ||||| Your teams. Your favorite writers. Wherever you want them. Personalize SI with our new App. Install on iOS or Android.
In the final minutes of Cleveland's Game 7 victory, LeBron James chased down Andre Iguodala for a giant block that helped seal a 93–89 win and the Cavs’ first championship.
With the game tied, 89–89, James ran back on defense after a Kyrie Irving miss. In transition, Iguodala kicked the ball to Curry, and got it back for a layup try. James sprinted toward the bucket, leaped just outside the restricted area, and pinned Iguodala's shot against the backboard.
James won Finals MVP after finishing the game with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. He hit the game-sealing free throw with an injured wrist.
LeBron with one of the biggest blocks you'll ever see pic.twitter.com/vu3UIUIBiH — Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) June 20, 2016
• Get SI’s Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Championship package
The Cavs captured their first NBA title, and the first for the city of Cleveland in any major sport since the Browns won the NFL championship in 1964. ||||| I AM LEGEND
He single-handedly brought his team back from a 3-1 deficit to win one of the most thrilling NBA Finals ever. It’s time to admit that LeBron is on the Mount Rushmore of basketball.
I give up. It is simply too hard to hate LeBron now. It is too much effort, and it makes me feel like a sad person.
Saying this goes against my nature. He was the bad guy for, in hindsight, simultaneously obvious and vituperatively stupid reasons. I will try to enumerate them.
A guy, Scott Raab, wrote a bunch of columns and a book about LeBron in my formative years. The book wound up being called The Whore of Akron. “May he suffer another decade of strokes and spend an eternity tonguing Satan’s flaming anus,” Raab wrote of LeBron. It felt fresh and perfect.
Eric Risberg/AP
There was a media prescription for LeBron—a big, juggernaut of a teenager who had been lying around, cocooning in televised high school games on ESPN2, and we all had to like him. This was back when ESPN was infallible, and questioning its incessant starfucking was considered weird and wrong. Therefore, questioning why they were showing blowout high school games and lauding a 17-year-old as the next Jesus Christ wasn’t even on the radar.
The bloom is well off the rose on that network now—after three straight, static years of a sports network chasing Johnny Manziel from bar to bar so that two red-faced, middle-aged millionaires could argue about the definition of alcoholism first thing in the morning, every morning.
But back then, it wasn’t part of the deal to think that ESPN might be in it for the wrong reasons. So when Raab wrote a bunch of vicious columns about LeBron, it felt like home. I wanted to live inside it.
All of my skepticism about this restrictive and overall dumb way we talked about sports was able to calcify into pure, easy hate, and it was all seized and appropriated into one big villain: LeBron James.
After his Decision, when traditional sports media was leveling a seesaw over whether LeBron “taking my talents to South Beach” James was a misunderstood star or a standard antihero and nothing in between, Raab was playing around in the beautiful nuance and verbiage and color of hate. ESPN seemed so binary. These columns, about how LeBron ripped the heart out of his hometown, and then the guts, and then the pancreas, for good measure—they were real, and they were landscapes, and they were gorgeous.
Everybody else wanted to get their heart rate up while watching Hot Take Hell on ESPN7. Scott Raab was making outsider art that people used to reserve for graffiti against oppressive governments. It was the American male way to read big words without shame in the early 2000s: write about sports with a lot of provincialism, covered in blood.
Then LeBron got unbelievably good, winning a couple of titles in Miami before coming home to Cleveland to wonder why people still hated him.
I don’t know. I don’t have an answer anymore.
It was an anxious, impractical hate, one that required a lot of logic-leaping, emotional energy, and lighter fluid. And now I’m done with it.
He made five straight NBA Finals? Fine, but he only won a couple of them.
He moved back to godawful Cleveland from gorgeous Miami so he could make good on his word? Yeah, but he wrote a persnickety letter and left a bunch of players off it that wound up getting traded, and now—look here—there’s a conspiracy that he might have gotten those players traded himself. Does he secretly run the team? Does he have more say than the Cavs’ general manager? Is LeBron Machiavellian? Is he not a point forward but actually the Dictator of Cleveland? I mean, he got his coach fired, right? And replaced him with a buddy of his? Who does that? Boy, he’s gonna have it coming to him when some superteam just shellacks him twice and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. He’s gonna get it good. Say goodnight to the bad guy.
And then there was none. He didn’t get it good. He served up a chasedown block from nowhere, like a teenager in an AND1 Mixtape—but at 31 years old. It saved the Finals. He led his team in every conceivable category. In fact, he led all players on both teams in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, making him, as ESPN noted, “the first player in NBA history to lead all players in all five categories for an entire playoff series,” averaging 29.7 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists, 2.3 blocks and 2.6 steals.
It is undeniable. He won the NBA Finals by himself. He came back down 3-1. He brought his native Cleveland its first major sports championship in 50 years.
I’m too tired now to deny it anymore, and a little ashamed. LeBron’s one of the greatest there is. He’s up there with Jordan. Don’t let me tell me otherwise. ||||| Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James answers questions as he holds his daughter Zhuri during a post-game press conference after Game 7 of basketball's NBA Finals Sunday, June 19, 2016, in Oakland, Calif.... (Associated Press)
Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James answers questions as he holds his daughter Zhuri during a post-game press conference after Game 7 of basketball's NBA Finals Sunday, June 19, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. Cleveland won 93-89. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) (Associated Press)
The drought is over for Cleveland, and the debate is over as well.
Best player in basketball?
His name is LeBron James.
This is why he went back to Cleveland, to deliver a title, to end the city's epic championship drought and finally give Northeast Ohio what it craved for nearly 52 years.
It's done. And now he's free. Anything that happens from here is icing atop a three-tiered championship cake for James.
There's absolutely nothing left for James to prove. The only thing he hadn't done on a basketball court was make Cleveland, a city whose sports teams were cursed for so long, a winner. December 27, 1964 was the day Jim Brown last made them one. That is, until June 19, 2016. James was an NBA champion before from his time in Miami, an Olympic champion, an MVP, a Finals MVP ... he had checked every box but one, and now that one is filled as well.
Stephen Curry is the two-time reigning MVP and rightly so, best player on the best regular-season team in league history. Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant will likely be the hottest free agent on the market this summer, coveted by everyone. Kobe Bryant was the highest-paid player in the NBA this season and this year was a celebration of his 20 years of greatness.
But they're all part of LeBron's world.
James is the freight train, the most unstoppable force in the game, and he shows no signs of slowing down after 13 years in the league. He's 31. He rarely if ever misses games. He's been in seven of the last 10 NBA Finals, including each of the last six. He's nowhere near his decline, which has to delight even those Cleveland fans who burned his jerseys in 2010. And while winning cures all, he can be a free agent this summer, which should scare some people as well.
"I'm true to the game," James said, "and I know what I bring to the table."
It bears noting that some of what's on that table now wasn't there six years ago, though.
It's fair to say, this celebration would not be happening without July 8, 2010, the day James headed to Miami.
James needed a change and craved a title. He got all that and more. He learned how to lead, he learned the value of structure, he learned from Dwyane Wade and Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley and Micky Arison, took little bits from each of them, added it all to his already-ridiculous game and made himself better.
James never went to college. But like many college kids, he went away for four years and then returned home with hopes of making his city better.
The result: Cleveland is a city of champions.
"I knew what I learned in the last couple years that I was gone," James said, "and I knew if I had to — when I came back, I knew I had the right ingredients and the right blueprint to help this franchise get back to a place that we've never been. That's what it was all about."
He'll never win over everyone. He'll never win the argument about who is better, him or Michael Jordan or anyone else who merits mention among the league's greats.
He doesn't care, either. He'll leave those conversations for others to have. But he put an end to the discussion of who is the best right now.
"There's no denying what he was able to accomplish this series," a very classy Curry said after Game 7. "He played pretty great basketball."
James is the quintessential American success story. He bucked overwhelming after odds by rising above his impoverished upbringing in Akron, Ohio. He's a global icon who's earned roughly $175 million in NBA salary, probably that much if not a great deal more from his Nike sponsorship deal alone, has a blossoming entertainment studio and is easily one of the most recognizable faces on the planet.
He's on pace to be a billionaire someday like his good pal Warren Buffett, who James can chat up basically any time he wants.
And now he can do whatever he wants for as long as he wants to play this game. He owes no one anything anymore. Stay in Cleveland, return to Miami, go anywhere else in the NBA; it's all up to him now.
For the first time in 13 years, LeBron James is free of burden.
With that weight lifted, it's scary to think his best might be yet to come.
___
Tim Reynolds is a national basketball writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at treynolds@ap.org ||||| Your teams. Your favorite writers. Wherever you want them. Personalize SI with our new App. Install on iOS or Android.
OAKLAND, Calif. — The cozy basketball locker room at Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary High School is loaded with motivation in every corner. There are bible verses in the lockers and along the side walls, a John Wooden quote in the back and blow-up photographs of the program’s most famous alum plastered everywhere. But the first thing visitors see upon entry is a simple, tall poster with Fighting Irish green lettering that reads: “Discipline: Do what has to be done; when it has to be done; as well as it can be done; do it that way all the time.”
Four virtues are built into the message: Responsibility, timeliness, excellence and consistency. Those same four virtues carried LeBron James, the alum whose photos grace the locker room’s walls, to the greatest achievement of his career: his first NBA championship in his native Ohio, the first title in the Cavaliers’ 46-year history, and the first title in 52 years for the cursed city of Cleveland.
The Cavaliers defeated the Warriors 93–89 in Game 7 at Oracle Arena on Sunday, pulling off the greatest comeback in Finals history by digging out of a 3–1 deficit and spoiling the most successful regular season the league has seen.
“Our fans ride or die, no matter what’s been going on,” said James, who broke into tears on the court after the final buzzer sounded and was named Finals MVP for the third time in his career. “No matter the Browns, the Indians, the Cavs. They continue to support us. For us to be able to end this drought, our fans deserve it. They deserve it. It was for them.”
• How Cavs pulled off stunning upset | Frame-by-frame look at The Block
The Cavaliers did it thanks to some resourcefulness from rookie coach Tyronn Lue, a gigantic late-game three-pointer from Kyrie Irving and unexpected contributions from the much-maligned Kevin Love. They had a little help from Draymond Green’s Game 5 suspension and multiple shaky outings from Stephen Curry.
Most of all, though, the Cavaliers shocked the world because James did what had to be done, when it had to be done, as well as it could be done, and he did it that way all the time.
Ben Golliver for Sports Illustrated
James did it in Game 5, pouring in 41 points on the road to spoil Golden State’s party. James did it again in Game 6, scoring 41 points again and dishing 11 assists, while blocking Curry in emphatic fashion. And James did it again in Game 7, posting 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, to notch the seventh triple double in his Finals career and the first triple double in a Finals Game 7 since James Worthy in 1988.
“I watched Beethoven tonight,” Irving said. “LeBron James composed a game. He had a freakin’ triple double in Game 7 of an NBA Finals game.”
• Get SI’s Cavaliers NBA Championship package | Watch Game 7 highlights
The play that will live for years on the highlight tapes came with just under two minutes left. For nearly three tense minutes, neither team scored, but the Warriors broke out on a two-on-one fast break, threatening to get an easy go-ahead bucket. Andre Iguodala dribbled hard to half-court and then passed to Curry on the left wing, who returned the pass in textbook fashion without dribbling. Iguodala took the ball in full stride, with a crease to the basket past J.R. Smith, and tossed up a double-clutch layup off the glass.
Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images
As that sequence unfolded, James, who had been in the right corner, found himself trailing the play, caught up briefly by Klay Thompson. When Curry received the ball, near the three-point line, James had only just crossed half-court, and yet he already had a vision for how the play would end. When Curry returned the ball to Iguodala, James gathered in stutter-step fashion, preparing to plant for a swooping block attempt. He leapt from outside the protected circle, floating across the paint to pound the shot against the backcourt and keep it in play.
The Cavaliers needed a block, they needed a block at that exact moment and only a superhuman effort would make it happen. James delivered on all counts, just as he had all series, just as he has throughout his 13-year career. No one else on the Cavaliers could make that play. No one else would even think to make that play. James thought about it, made it and made it look easy.
• All of LeBron’s Finals, ranked | LeBron’s letter | A timeline since then ...
James has been a bigger, stronger and faster physical force since his prep school play landed him on the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 17, but he’s always been smarter too. A huge part of his basketball intelligence is his vision, which manifests itself in many ways. He saw that it was time to take a backseat to a scorching hot Irving late in Game 5. He saw the impossible passing angles throughout Game 6. He saw the chasedown block opportunity in Game 7.
His vision, unlike any other current athlete, has extended well outside his 94' by 50' office. James saw that he made a mistake with how he executed The Decision in 2010, he saw what it took to win a title in Miami, he saw the possibility of a return to Cleveland when many others didn’t, and he saw that he could use his leverage as a player to build a roster and reshape a coaching staff to his liking. James saw that he had no equal in the Eastern Conference, he saw Irving’s precocious talent, he saw Love’s desire to start fresh outside Minnesota, he saw Tristan Thompson’s undervalued skills and he saw that Dion Waiters and former coach David Blatt weren’t going to be a part of the equation.
“I came back for a reason,” James said, wearing the net around his neck, his Finals MVP trophy in front of him, his daughter in his arms and his two sons by his side. “I came back to bring a championship to our city. I knew what I was capable of doing. I knew what I learned in the last couple years that I was gone, and when I came back, I knew I had the right ingredients and the right blueprint.”
That blueprint and those maneuverings put James and the Cavaliers in position to strike when the Warriors’ dream season fell to pieces with Green’s suspension and Curry’s subpar play.
See classic photos of three-time NBA Finals MVP LeBron James
LeBron James Off the Court Courtesy of the James Family Courtesy of the James Family Michael J. LeBrecht II Michael J. LeBrecht II Michael J. LeBrecht II Michael J. LeBrecht II David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images Johnny Nunez/WireImage Steve Grayson/WireImage Steve Grayson/WireImage David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images Johnny Nunez/WireImage Simon Bruty Chris Polk/FilmMagic Greg Nelson Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images Johnny Nunez/WireImage Gregory Heisler Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Sprite John Parra/WireImage John W. McDonough Ben Pruchnie/WireImage for Budweiser Harry How/Getty Images Bruce Yeung/NBAE/Getty Images Greg Nelson Sands/GC Images Fred Vuich Kevin Mazur/WireImage Todd Rosenberg John W. McDonough Robert Beck Ron Schwane/AP Gene J. Puskar/AP Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Jeff Haynes 1 of 37 Advertisement
Down the stretch, as James blocked Iguodala and Irving broke the long-standing tie with an incredible three-pointer, Golden State missed nine straight shots and didn’t score in the final 4:38. During the regular season, the Warriors had been the league’s most clutch team; here, in a winner-take-all Game 7, they spent crunch time back on their heels, overwhelmed. Curry, who finished with 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting, said he was “aggressive, but in the wrong ways,” as he went 1 of 6 in the final period and carelessly flipped a behind-the-back pass out of bounds down the stretch.
“We’re stunned,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We thought we were going to win. I was extremely confident coming into tonight. This is why you can’t mess around. … James is one of the great players of alltime and obviously he was the key to the turnaround. He had a great series.”
This championship is a long time coming: 16 years after his first high school state title, 14 years after the Chosen One” SI cover, 13 years after he was Cleveland’s No. 1 pick, six years after The Decision and three years after his most recent title with the Heat. James has, without hyperbole, spent more than half of his life in direct preparation for this moment. So too has Akron, Cleveland and the rest of Ohio.
There’s no doubt that this is and will be remembered as the high point of his career to date, and nothing that comes afterward will be able to top it. This is the peak, the pinnacle, the ultimate triumph.
“He deserves it,” Lue said. “He’s a hard worker. He’s been the face of the NBA for 13 years. To leave Miami to come to Cleveland to give the city of Cleveland a championship, just shows you who he is. He’s a giver. He’s always looking to take care of people. He’s always been nice to everyone. If anyone deserves it, LeBron James definitely deserves it.”
#http://www.120sports.com/video/v185109022/cavaliers-win-the-nba-finals
Back at St. V, James has donated enough money to fund a new gymnasium, dubbed The LeBron James Arena. His No. 23 jersey is everywhere—from the backs of the school’s students, to the student store, to the gym rafters—and his old basketball teammate Willie McGee is the school’s athletic director.
“I can’t wait to get back home,” James said from Oracle, thousands of miles from the Akron high school gym that put him on the map and then on the globe. Halfway across the country and more than a decade later, his play had perfectly embodied the message that can be found next to his old green, metal locker.
James put the Cavaliers on his shoulders. He saved their season from elimination three straight times in unprecedented fashion. He played the best and most complete basketball of his first-ballot Hall of Fame career, earning unanimous Finals MVP honors by leading all players in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. And, on Sunday, he played 46-plus minutes in the 199th postseason game of his career—that’s 199 out of a possible 199 games, because he’s never once missed a playoff game due to injury.
Responsibility, timeliness, excellence, consistency. ||||| This is more than just an NBA finals win for Cleveland. This is the end of the drought. The end of the curse. The end of the heartaches. Fifty-two years - just a blip.
LeBron James, MVP for the finals, put it all on the court, all of it, all in for Cleveland.
So did the team. So did the amazing Tristan Thompson. Kyrie Irving. Kevin Love.
The celebration. The delivery. The tears from LeBron.
He earned it for Cleveland. LeBron promised it, he came home for it, and he brought it. It wipes out The Decision.
What decision?
As LeBron said -- he poured his heart and his blood and his tears into this game, against all odds.
"Cleveland! This is for you!"
And it was all heart, all determination, against, on paper, the best team in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors played hard, played smart, but Cleveland just was smarter, just was tougher, just was better.
The moment is magic, unbelievable, transformative.
Thank you, Cleveland Cavaliers.
Thank you, LeBron.
Thank you, Cleveland, for believing.
93-89.
Fifty-two years.
It was worth it.
And it changes everything. ||||| Rating is available when the video has been rented.
This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. | – LeBron James led his Cleveland Cavaliers to a Game 7 win Sunday night to cap an epic championship series, one in which the Cavs became the first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit. Some of the next-morning analysis: If there are any LeBron haters left, it's time to let it go, writes Ben Collins in the Daily Beast. (He counts himself as one of those former haters.) He's "one of the greatest there is. He's up there with Jordan." Josh Levin at Slate explains why this is now true: "If he wasn't before, LeBron James is now, rightfully, a basketball legend." Tim Reynolds of the AP weighs in, too. No more debate: LeBron is the "best player in basketball." Sports Illustrated says this play by James late in the game (a "superhuman" shot block) will be replayed for years. Cleveland native Bert Stratton writes about what the first sports championship in a half-century means for his city at the New York Times. An editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer has three words for it: "magic, unbelievable, transformative." A post at Complex says an emotional JR Smith of the Cavs gave one of the most memorable post-game news conferences ever. The video is here. Deadspin highlights the moment Cleveland newscasters learned the Cavs had won while on the air. | [
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Chief Wahoo, the longtime logo of the Indians, will be gone after the 2018 season.
The Indians will disassociate themselves with the logo and will no longer wear it on their uniforms or caps following the 2018 season. The logo has been a flashpoint for the team for several years, drawing criticism and lawsuits from Native American groups who consider it racist.
The New York Times was the first to report the story.
Chief Wahoo, in one rendition or another, has been worn on Indians uniforms since 1947. Then-owner Bill Veeck made it part of the team's uniform. Walter Goldbach, a 17-year-old draftsman, designed the first logo. Goldbach, 88, died in December.
The Indians name will remain unchanged. The charter member of the American League has been called the Indians since 1915. The Block C and script Indians will be the team's main logos after 2018.
The logo recently has drawn criticism from Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. Owner Paul Dolan and Manfred have met several times since 2016 to discuss the matter. When Manfred awarded the Indians the 2019 All-Star Game, it seemed unlikely that any Cleveland player participating in the Midsummer Classic would be wearing Chief Wahoo on his uniform.
When the Indians played Toronto in the AL Championship Series in 2016, Douglas Cardinal, a member of the Blackfoot nation and a Native American activist, brought a lawsuit against MLB and the Indians. The suit sought to ban Cleveland from using its team name and logo in the series. A judge in Toronto rejected the request and dismissed the suit.
Last May, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled that an Ontario court can hear a case contending that the Indians team name and Chief Wahoo logo are discriminatory. The ruling was an offshoot of Cardinal's suit in 2016.
In response to that court ruling, Manfred said, "We were hoping that case was going to be dismissed. It was not. I think it points out the ongoing practical problems that are posed by this particular logo."
The Indians have been downsizing their use of Chief Wahoo for the last several years. Their more recent primary logo has been the block C. When they conduct spring training in Goodyear, Ariz., Chief Wahoo is nowhere to be found on their uniforms or advertising. The only place it can be found is in the gift shop.
* Read the 2014 cleveland.com editorial calling for the end of Chief Wahoo
The team does not use it there out of respect for the heavy Native American population in Arizona.
The Indians will maintain the trademark and retail rights to Chief Wahoo. They will maintain a local presence for The Chief, meaning they'll still sell merchandise bearing its image. ||||| FILE - This June 26, 2015, file photo, shows the Cleveland Indians logo on a jersey during a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore. Indians are taking the divisive Chief Wahoo logo... (Associated Press)
FILE - This June 26, 2015, file photo, shows the Cleveland Indians logo on a jersey during a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore. Indians are taking the divisive Chief Wahoo logo off their uniforms and caps, starting in 2019. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) (Associated Press)
CLEVELAND (AP) — Divisive and hotly debated, the Chief Wahoo logo is being removed from the Cleveland Indians' uniform next year.
The polarizing mascot is coming off the team's jersey sleeves and caps starting in the 2019 season, a move that will end Chief Wahoo's presence on the field but may not completely silence those who deem it racist.
The Associated Press was informed of the decision before an official announcement was planned for Monday by Major League Baseball.
After lengthy discussions between team owner Paul Dolan and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, the Indians are taking the extraordinary step of shelving the big-toothed, smiling, red-faced caricature, which has been used in used in various expressions by the team since 1947.
However, the American League team will continue to wear the Wahoo logo on its uniform sleeves and caps in 2018, and the club will still sell merchandise featuring the mascot in Northeast Ohio. The team must maintain a retail presence so that MLB and the Indians can keep ownership of the trademark.
"Major League Baseball is committed to building a culture of diversity and inclusion throughout the game," Manfred said in a statement. "Over the past year, we encouraged dialogue with the Indians organization about the club's use of the Chief Wahoo logo. During our constructive conversations, Paul Dolan made clear that there are fans who have a longstanding attachment to the logo and its place in the history of the team.
"Nonetheless, the club ultimately agreed with my position that the logo is no longer appropriate for on-field use in Major League Baseball, and I appreciate Mr. Dolan's acknowledgement that removing it from the on-field uniform by the start of the 2019 season is the right course."
Under growing pressure to eliminate Chief Wahoo, the club has been transitioning away from the logo in recent years. The Indians introduced a block "C'' insignia on some of their caps and have removed signs with the Wahoo logo in and around Progressive Field, the team's downtown ballpark.
National criticism and scrutiny about the Indians' allegiance to Chief Wahoo grew in 2016, when the Indians made the World Series and Manfred expressed his desire to have the team eradicate the symbol. Earlier in that postseason, a lawsuit was filed while the club was playing in Toronto to have the logo and team name banned from appearing on Canadian TV. That court case was dismissed by a judge.
The Indians' bid to host the 2019 All-Star Game, which it was ultimately awarded, further heightened debate over Wahoo.
"We have consistently maintained that we are cognizant and sensitive to both sides of the discussion," Dolan said. "While we recognize many of our fans have a long-standing attachment to Chief Wahoo, I'm ultimately in agreement with Commissioner Manfred's desire to remove the logo from our uniforms in 2019."
The fight over Wahoo has spanned decades in Cleveland.
Every year, groups of Native Americans and their supporters have protested outside the stadium before the home opener in hopes of not only getting the team to abolish Chief Wahoo but to change the Indians' nickname, which they feel is an offensive depiction of their race.
Those dissenting voices have been met with fans devoted to preserving Chief Wahoo's place in team history. The Indians' resurgence in the mid-1990s helped spur a downtown renaissance in Cleveland.
The NFL's Washington Redskins have come under similar fire to change their logo and nickname but so far have resisted. Last year, a Supreme Court ruling in another case cleared the way for the Redskins to preserve the trademark on its logo.
___
More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball | – Chief Wahoo's days are numbered. The Cleveland Indians will remove the controversial logo of a caricatured Indian brave's face as of the 2019 season, reports the AP. That means the logo, which has been used since 1947 but is today deemed racist by Native American groups and others, will be seen on the team's uniforms for just one more season. However, the team will continue to sell merchandise adorned with Chief Wahoo in northeast Ohio, a decision the AP says was made to keep trademark rules in place. The move came after negotiations with Major League Baseball, which considers the logo inappropriate, reports the New York Times. The issue had come to a head in recent years as the Indians turned into a powerhouse team in the league and thus drew more attention. In fact, the team had been taking steps to limit the logo's exposure in recent years, notes Cleveland.com. For instance, Chief Wahoo is not displayed during the team's spring training camp in Arizona, out of respect for the area's Native American population. (Meanwhile, a similar controversy continues over the Washington Redskins' team name.) | [
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Nearly 530 years after the death of Richard III in battle, Britain’s high court ruled Friday that the king immortalized by Shakespeare as a misshapen, murderous villain is to be buried in Leicester, the city where his skeleton was found beneath a parking lot in 2012.
The court dismissed a competing campaign by some of the deposed monarch’s distant relations to have him interred in York, in northern England, which they argued had a stronger claim on his affections – and his bones.
“It is time for Richard III to be given a dignified reburial, and finally laid to rest,” the three justices who heard the case wrote, paving the way for the long-ago ruler to be interred in Leicester Cathedral.
The cathedral stands a stone’s throw from the site where, working off of old maps and improbable hopes, archaeologists dug in search of the last recorded place where Richard’s body was buried, beneath the floor of a lost medieval church. In an almost miraculous find in September 2012, on one of the few bits of land not built over in downtown Leicester, they unearthed the skeleton of an adult male who had clearly suffered grievous battle wounds.
DNA and other tests proved that the remains belonged to Richard, the final Plantagenet king and the last English monarch to die in combat. He was killed Aug. 22, 1485, at Bosworth Field, outside Leicester, in a climactic fight that ushered in the long reign of the Tudors, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
It is time for Richard III to be given a dignified reburial, and finally laid to rest. — British high court
Almost as soon as the remains were found, however, another battle broke out, over where they ought to be laid to rest.
A group called the Plantagenet Alliance challenged the decision to rebury Richard in the nearby cathedral, arguing that York would be more appropriate, since he spent much of his childhood and early adult life in and around that city. The group accused the government of failing to consult widely enough before it granted the burial license to Leicester.
But in what it called a “unique and exceptional” case, the high court Friday upheld the government’s decision. Despite the “trenchant views expressed by rival factions,” the court noted that officials had followed proper protocol regarding discovered remains; that Henry VII, Richard’s successor, had buried him in Leicester; and that the present queen, Elizabeth II, appeared content with the idea of keeping him there.
He fell here. He's lain here for over 500 years. The cathedral is about 150 meters from the site of discovery. — David Monteith, dean of Leicester Cathedral
While an appeal of the ruling is technically possible, David Monteith, the dean of Leicester Cathedral, described the court’s judgment as “clear and unequivocal.”
“He fell here. He’s lain here for over 500 years. The cathedral is about 150 meters from the site of discovery,” Monteith said in a telephone interview.
Despite Richard’s strong ties to York, “as a king of England in medieval times he spent time all across England,” said Monteith. “He knew the city of York well, but he knew the city of Leicester well. He didn’t leave any will saying [where] he should be buried…. We’re simply doing what the law requires.”
In a statement, the Plantagenet Alliance expressed disappointment with the ruling but said it had tried its best to "persuade the decision-makers to reconsider public consultation regarding the final resting place of the last Plantagenet king of England."
Leicester Cathedral has already gone to some expense to prepare for a re-interment, tentatively scheduled for spring of next year. A new tomb will be erected in the heart of the church, replacing the existing memorial marker, and planning is underway on a solemn service befitting a man who was England’s “anointed king.”
He’s also one of its most controversial. Scholars and amateur historians are bitterly divided over whether Richard was the bloodthirsty tyrant depicted by Shakespeare who had his two young nephews executed in the Tower of London so that he could claim the crown for himself, or an enlightened ruler who instituted lasting legal reforms but whose name was indelibly smeared after his death by Tudor propagandists.
No matter where he’s buried, that is one debate that will probably never be put to rest. ||||| Descendants of the family of Richard III, the last king of England to die on a battlefield, have lost a legal battle over where his recently discovered remains should be reinterred.
Three high court judges ruled that the twisted and traumatised skeleton found under a council car park should remain in Leicester, and said it was "time for King Richard III to be given a dignified reburial, and finally laid to rest".
The judges rejected the claim of distant relatives from the Plantagenet Alliance that justice secretary Chris Grayling was under a legal duty to set up a wide-ranging consultation over the reburial site.
The alliance, which was set up by the 16th great-nephew of Richard III, who had no direct descendants, favoured reinterment in York Minister, arguing it had been the wish "of the last medieval king of England" who was known as Richard of York.
His remains, bearing the unmistakable signs of scoliosis and traumatic injury consistent with contemporaneous accounts of his physical stature and nature of death during the 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field, were discovered more than 500 years later in 2012, and confirmed through mitochondrial DNA tests on descendents of his sister, Anne of York.
Since then "passions have been roused and much ink has been spilt" over his life, death and place of reinterment", said Lady Justice Hallet, sitting with Mr Justice Ouseley and Mr Justice Haddon-Cave.
They ruled Grayling had acted reasonably and lawfully in consulting with the "sovereign, state and church", and in granting an exhumation licence which allowed the University of Leicester, which led the archeological dig on the site of the Grey Friars Priory in Leicester, to determine Leicester cathedral as the place of reburial.
Dismissing a claim for wide-ranging public consultation, the judges said there was no "legitimate expectation" that Richard III's "collateral descendants would be consulted after centuries in relation to an exhumed historical figure". Any public consultation was "not capable of sensible limit" as there were potentially millions of collateral descendants of the king.
There was applause at the city's cathedral on Friday when the Bishop of Leicester, Tim Stevens, read out the result at 10am to a crowd of supporters and media.
"We are, of course, delighted," he said. "Here in the cathedral, in the diocese, in the city, in the county, we've waited a long time for this."
He said plans for the reinterment that had been on hold could now progress.
Nick Rushton, leader of Leicestershire county council, said: "It has been a very undignified time as you must remember this is the body of a man – and a king of England. He deserves to be buried with dignity and honour in Leicester cathedral."
Wendy Moorhen, deputy chair of the Richard III Society, said while they acknowledged "the sincerity" of the Plantagenet Alliance case, further arguments over the king's final resting place "can only be counterproductive to the solemnity of the reburial".
But Grayling condemned the alliance's legal action, saying that, while pleased at the judgment, he was "frustrated and angry that the Plantagenet Alliance – a group with tenuous claims to being relatives of Richard III – have taken up so much time and public money".
"This case, brought by a shell company set up by the alliance to avoid paying legal costs, is an example of exactly why the government is bringing forward a package of reforms to the judicial review process."
The case had "unique and exceptional features" and the archeological discovery of the mortal remains of a king of England after 500 years "may fairly be described as 'unprecedented'", the judges said. But there were "no public law grounds for the court interfering with the decision in question".
It is currently unclear whether or not the alliance will seek to appeal.
Richard III's death marked the end of the middle ages, and he has remained a significant and controversial figure ever since. Tudor propagandists in the 16th century portrayed him in a negative light. Thomas More described him as "little of stature, ill-featured of limbs, crook-backed … hard-favoured of image".
The Richard III Society, formed in 1924, has since sought to rehabilitate his image as a good and humane man.
Contemporaneous accounts report his body was found among others slain, a halter was thrown around his neck, his naked body was slung over a horse with head, arms and legs dangling, and he was bought to a church in Leicester and irreverently buried.
Professor Mark Thompson, the senior pro-vice-chancellor at the University of Leicester, said he was "delighted" at the ruling, not just for the university, but also for the city and the cathedral.
"This has been a major research project and we were always very clear from the outset that our intention was to reinter the remains in the cathedral," he added.
The reinterment ceremony will take place next spring. | – Richard III's last battle is finally over: The former king of England will be reburied in the city of Leicester, not York, reports the Guardian. The site of his resting place had been the subject of a legal fight ever since archeologists discovered his remains underneath a parking lot in Leicester in 2012. Though initial plans called for him to be reburied in the nearby Leicester Cathedral, a group of far-flung relatives sought to have him reburied in York instead, where he grew up. Today, judges at the Royal Courts of Justice rejected the idea. "We agree that it is time for Richard III to be given a dignified reburial, and finally laid to rest," they wrote. But they found no compelling reason to move him to York. Richard died on the battlefield in 1485, the last English king to do so, notes the Guardian. By the looks of it, he then got unceremoniously dumped into a too-small grave, where he remained for nearly 530 years. The LA Times notes that scholars remain divided over Richard himself: He's either the "bloodthirsty tyrant" as depicted by Shakespeare or "an enlightened ruler" whose reputation got maligned by the Tudor dynasty that succeeded him. Either way, he had a bad case of roundworms when he died. | [
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] |
Rand Paul proved on Wednesday that a filibuster can be very good politics. In speaking for over 12 hours in opposition to the Obama Administration's drone policy, Paul did more to boost his prospects as a 2016 presidential candidate than anything he has done since coming to the Senate from Kentucky in 2010.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul filibusters the nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA. AP photo
What Paul proved during his "filiblizzard" -- it hurts so good to write that -- is that he is a politician with a) a core set of beliefs and b) a willingness to stand up for them.
That's a rare thing in modern American politics where the tendency is to find where the public -- or the primary electorate -- is on a given issue and then find a way to get there.
"People of all backgrounds yearn for leaders who believe in what they say and will stand strong for their convictions," said Jesse Benton, who managed Ron Paul's 2012 presidential campaign and is now serving as campaign manager for Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell's 2014 re-election race. "Senator Paul is one of those leaders, and the list of others is short."
While the issue Paul chose -- drones and, specifically, the possibility of strikes against American citizens in the U.S. -- isn't a high-profile one, it became clear as the Kentucky Republican talked (and talked) that he was creating a major moment for a party that hasn't had very many of those since Nov. 6, 2012.
"It was one of the first examples in a long time of messaging that made the base feel like we had control of the day," said Rick Wilson, a Florida-based Republican strategist. "Rand Paul's stock price rose sharply today, and being the guy who set Obama on his heels -- even for a day -- will pay dividends for Paul in the short term, at least."
Need evidence that Paul's filibuster was paying political dividends? Florida Sen. Marco Rubio -- a frontrunner for the 2016 GOP presidential nod -- joined Paul on the Senate floor in both a symbolic show of support, and an acknowledgment of the power of the moment his colleague had created.
By the time the 2016 Republican presidential race rolls around, the Paul filibuster will be a distant memory -- even to the grassroots of the party. But, the motivation behind the filibuster -- a combination of genuine conviction and a sense for the dramatic -- will still burn strongly in Paul.
It's why we continue to believe no one should underestimate Paul's ability to have a major impact on the 2016 race. While his beliefs -- particularly on foreign policy -- are outside the mainstream of current Republican thought, Paul will get points among the base for actually believing what he says.
"The public is looking for leaders with principles and conviction, even if they differ from some of their own views," said Jon Downs, who did the television ads for Ron Paul's 2012 campaign. "Nobody has to question whether Rand Paul is authentic, or what his core beliefs are."
Call it the principle principle.
Obama dines with Senate Republicans: Obama extended an olive branch to the GOP Tuesday night, dining with a dozen Senate Republicans. And he even picked up the tab.
Obama is ramping up his outreach to the GOP and is set to meet with all four caucuses on Capitol Hill next week. We'll find out in he coming weeks and months whether anything comes of the renewed outreach.
Markey leads in Massachusetts: Rep. Ed Markey (D) leads his Senate primary opponent, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D), by nearly 30 points, according to a new UMass Lowell-Boston Herald poll. The longtime congressman leads Lynch 50 percent to 21 percent according to the survey. But nearly a quarter (23 percent) of potential Democratic primary voters are undecided.
In special general election match-ups, Markey and Lynch lead all three Republican candidates by double digits. Former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan runs strongest against the two Democrats, but still trails by about 17 points against each one.
Fixbits:
The NRSC is raising money off Paul's filibuster.
McConnell said he opposes Brennan's nomination and urged against cloture.
Senate Republicans blocked an Obama appellate court nomination.
Sequestration won't mean a pay cut for Congress.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) plans to reintroduce his proposal to require background checks on gun purchases as efforts for a bipartisan agreement on the issue have stalled.
Arkansas adopted the country's strictest abortion law.
Mitt Romney is joining his son's investment firm.
Must-reads:
"House votes to avert shutdown as Obama looks for big deal" -- Rosalind S. Helderman and Philip Rucker, Washington Post
"Colorado still on the fence about gun control" -- T.W. Farnam, Washington Post
"Senate Democrats Seek Wider Scope, May Add Appropriations Bills" -- Kerry Young, Roll Call ||||| Article Excerpt
Give Rand Paul credit for theatrical timing. As a snow storm descended on Washington, the Kentucky Republican's old-fashioned filibuster Wednesday filled the attention void on Twitter and cable TV. If only his reasoning matched the showmanship.
Shortly before noon, Senator Paul began a talking filibuster against John Brennan's nomination to lead the CIA. The tactic is rarely used in the Senate and was last seen in 2010. But Senator Paul said an "alarm" had to be sounded about the threat to Americans from their own government. He promised to speak "until the President says, no, ... ||||| Rand Paul is doing it the old-fashioned way—talking all day and night. And while he may not stop John Brennan’s CIA nomination, he’s taking a stand on principle, not partisanship, and shaming Democrats over drones.
In filibustering John Brennan’s nomination to head the Central Intelligence Agency, Rand Paul is giving a tutorial on what it means, or should mean, to be a member of the U.S. Senate.
First, he’s actually filibustering. Until the 1970s, filibustering meant standing at your Senate desk and talking nonstop, day and night, to prevent your colleagues from taking a vote. But in recent decades, and especially in the Obama era, real filibustering, which is hard, has been replaced by virtual filibustering, in which senators simply declare their opposition to taking a vote and then go about their normal business. Once filibustering became easy, it became common. Now most important legislation requires not 51 but 60 votes to pass the Senate, as that’s the number required to break a filibuster. Last month, Republicans voted to deny a vote to Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense, and then went on vacation for 10 days.
But Paul, to his credit, is doing it the old-fashioned way. He’s talking all day and night, relieved occasionally by sympathetic senators temporarily willing to pick up the slack. And he’s doing so on a matter of principle, not partisanship: the Obama administration’s refusal to categorically rule out a drone strike on an American citizen on American soil.
During the Hagel fight, John McCain acknowledged that part of the GOP’s opposition stemmed from bitterness that Hagel had put his outrage over the Iraq war ahead of his party loyalty to President Bush. For Paul, it’s completely different. He voted for Hagel, and for Obama’s secretary-of-state pick, John Kerry. And he’s gone out of his way to implicate his own party in the drone policies he’s denouncing, declaring, “I would be here if it were a Republican president doing this. Really the great irony of this is that President Obama’s opinion on this is an extension of George Bush’s opinion.”
Paul’s filibuster is also germane to the guy he’s filibustering, since as Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, Brennan has overseen a massive expansion of lethal drones. That’s another sharp contrast with the Hagel filibuster, during which McCain and Lindsey Graham said they would prevent a vote until they got more information about the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, a disaster Hagel had absolutely nothing to do with.
Paul knows he can’t ultimately stop Brennan’s nomination, but by delaying it in a dramatic way, he’s getting the media—especially the television media—to talk about drones, a subject with massive national-security and constitutional implications that got almost no attention at Hagel’s hearing. Paul is also shaming those Democrats who had denounced Bush’s unchecked presidential power but put their civil libertarianism in a blind trust once Obama entered the Oval Office.
“I would be here if it were a Republican president doing this. Really the great irony of this is that President Obama’s opinion on this is an extension of George Bush’s opinion.”
Some liberals still find it hard to rally behind Paul, given his hostility to the welfare state and ambivalence about the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But throughout American history, liberals worried about what Arthur Schlesinger called “the imperial presidency” have made common cause with conservatives whose views on other subjects they found abhorrent. Arkansas Sen. William Fulbright, for instance, didn’t just muse about the Civil Rights Act’s constitutionality a half-century later, he voted against the bill itself, along with the other key civil-rights legislation of the 1960s. But he also warned prophetically against the Bay of Pigs and Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic and oversaw the hearings that helped expose the folly, and horror, of America’s war in Vietnam.
Unlike those Washington conservatives who only object to centralized government power when the government is trying to regulate business or help the poor, Paul is reminding his fellow Republicans that the power to wage war is the most dangerous government power of all. He’s reminding Democrats that no president can be trusted with the unrestrained power to kill, not even one you like. And he’s reminding Americans that senators can still stand on principle, even when it costs them their sleep. Not bad for one day’s, and night’s, work. ||||| Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky performed a national service by filibustering the nomination of John O. Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency — an old-fashioned, talk-’til-you-drop filibuster at that.
Mr. Brennan’s qualifications for the position are not at issue here. He is a dedicated public servant, and, as former CIA station chief in Riyadh, one with important experience in the intersection of Islamist terrorism with Middle Eastern politics. He has served both Democratic and Republican administrations, and his professionalism is not in question. Unlike the objections to Chuck Hagel’s appointment as secretary of defense, Senator Paul’s decision to stand in the way of this appointment is not about persons but about policy – specifically, the Obama administration’s claim that it has a legal and ethical mandate to carry out extrajudicial killings of American citizens overseas that are indistinguishable from assassinations, and, especially, the administration’s recent terrifying expansion of that policy to include the option of putting to death Americans in the United States without trial, proper legal process, or meaningful oversight. Given that the CIA has been the instrument entrusted with carrying out these killings in several cases already, holding up Mr. Brennan’s appointment is appropriate.
(I suppose I should acknowledge that I was both pleased and amused that part of Senator Paul’s filibuster consisted of sharing my National Review writings about the subject of drone strikes with the Senate, though my experience with senators suggests that they are impervious to argument, reason, evidence, and most other instruments save votes and campaign donations. I have never before to my knowledge been a passive participant in a filibuster.)
There are a few things about this debate worth considering. One is that we are too much focused on the instrument of these killings rather than on the moral and political context of them. “Drone” is a scary-sounding word, and the prospect of remote-control killings via robots circling invisibly overhead is of course ominous. But the technological means here are of no particular importance or interest — we could as easily be talking about slitting throats, tossing hand grenades through windows, or any other old-fashioned means of ending a life. The question is not about using unmanned aircraft to carry out killings, but about drawing up lists of Americans greenlit for assassination and then acting upon them, first abroad and now, according to Attorney General Eric Holder, at home, if the president judges doing so to be necessary.
We are suffering from the conflation of rhetoric and reality. Our “War on Terror” is not a war in any conventional sense of the word, and our insistence that in this war the “battlefield is everywhere” takes literally a phrase that is not literally true. Al-Qaeda and its sympathizers are savages who will kill when and where they can; they could strike anywhere, but it does not follow that everywhere is therefore a field of battle subject to the law of war. The Museum of Modern Art and the Mall of America might be possible targets for terrorists, but martial law is not in effect in those locations, nor should it be. If John Walker Lindh had been killed during a shootout at Tora Bora or during the prison uprising at Qala-i-Jangi, that would have been of no special concern. There is no question that killing an American citizen under arms in the course of battlefield combat is easily within the bounds of acceptable national-defense action.
But that is not the question before us. Instead, we are faced with an arrangement by which the president may designate any American, at home or abroad, as an “enemy combatant,” and place him on a list of people to be killed — not in the course of combat, but in targeted operations indistinguishable from assassinations. The legal justification for this is derived from the penumbras of the 2006 Military Commissions Act — but Congress has passed no law specifically authorizing the premeditated, targeted killings of American citizens abroad, to say nothing of American citizens at home. I very much doubt that such a law could pass Congress, even as defective and unreliable as our Congress can be. Passing such a law would not make these killings any less problematic, but it would introduce a much-needed balance-of-powers element to the situation.
Our definition of “enemy combatant” is terrifyingly elastic. Far from being limited to armed men carrying out acts of violence, it stretches to cover men such as Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda propagandist known, somewhat ridiculously, as “the bin Laden of the Internet.” Mr. al-Awlaki was probably guilty of treason and other serious crimes, but the Constitution contains specific provisions and standards for treason cases, which do not include assassination. Odious as he was, Mr. al-Awlaki came to the attention of our shockingly incompetent national-security administrators when, having been feted at the Pentagon and invited to offer prayers at the Capitol, he turned out to be a sympathizer with and encourager of Islamist terrorism. He blogged, he preached, he made propaganda videos — and that is what put him in the crosshairs. Government officials say there is more to the story, but that “more” is to be found only in classified documents, which makes real oversight — the kind exercised by informed citizens — all but impossible.
My friend and colleague Andrew C. McCarthy argues that we can trust the federal government to exercise a commonsense standard in these cases. He points to the Jose Padilla episode; Mr. Padilla, too, met the definition of “enemy combatant,” but he was apprehended on an airplane in Chicago rather than in some rathole in Peshawar, so there was no call to put him instantly to death. My own conception of citizenship is such that the convenience of the authorities ought not determine questions of life and death.
One of the great markers of civilization in republican Rome was a meaningful conception of citizenship as a sacred institution. A Roman citizen could be put to death, but only for a very limited number of crimes — treason notable among them — and according to very narrowly defined processes. (Patricide was punished in a particularly unpleasant fashion — projectio in profluentem.) A Roman citizen could not be whipped, tortured, or crucified — which is what spared St. Paul from suffering the same fate as his Savior. When it came to citizens, certain lines were not to be crossed. But like our definition of “enemy combatant,” the Roman definition of “treason” was elastic, subject to liberal interpretation by the executive branch, and soon enough “treason” came to mean “disagreeing with Nero.” Barack Obama is no Nero. There are some conservatives who believe that he is the worst and most dangerous president we have ever had. I am not among them, being a hardline Wilson-hater. But even those conservatives who do believe he is the worst president we have ever had have no reason to believe that he is the worst president we ever will have, and I have spent enough time looking at the national budget to be fairly well armored against arguments that Washington is capable of behaving collectively in a prudent or responsible fashion.
Senator Paul is right to take this opportunity to, as somebody once put it, stand athwart, yelling “Stop!” Senator Ted Cruz and others are right to encourage him in this. If your government can put you to death without trial — not on the field of battle, but at breakfast — then you are not a citizen at all: You are a subject. And Americans were not born to be subjects.
— Kevin D. Williamson is National Review’s roving correspondent. His newest book, The End Is Near and It’s Going to Be Awesome, will be published in May. | – Rand Paul's old-fashioned talking filibuster may not derail John Brennan's nomination, but pundits are almost universally praising the Kentucky senator's moxie. Here's what people are saying: "It became clear as the Kentucky Republican talked (and talked) that he was creating a major moment for a party that hasn’t had very many of those since Nov. 6, 2012," writes Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post. The marathon should boost Paul's 2016 prospects; he proved he has "a) a core set of beliefs and b) a willingness to stand up for them. That's a rare thing in modern American politics." "Rand Paul is giving a tutorial on what it means, or should mean, to be a member of the US Senate," writes Peter Beinart at the Daily Beast. Not only is he reviving the old-fashioned filibuster, "he's doing so on a matter of principle, not partisanship." Paul himself said yesterday that he "would be here if it were a Republican president doing this," pointing out that Obama's position mirrored George Bush's. "If only his reasoning matched the showmanship," laments the Wall Street Journal in an editorial today, arguing that Paul was overstating matters; yes, US citizens can be killed on US soil, but only if they're enemy combatants. "If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms. He needs to know what he's talking about." But Kevin Williamson at the National Review disagrees. "Our definition of 'enemy combatant' is terrifyingly elastic," he writes. He believes Paul "performed a national service" yesterday. Of course, Williamson would agree; Paul quoted his articles in his speech. It was nice, he writes, "though my experience with senators suggests that they are impervious to argument, reason, evidence, and most other instruments save votes and campaign donations." Even Jon Stewart praised Paul. "He's using the filibuster the way it's meant to be used," Stewart said on the Daily Show. "I can't say I agree with Rand Paul about everything, but as issues go, drone oversight is one certainly worth kicking up a fuss for." | [
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Steven Eugene Clifford is wanted for the alleged sexual assaults of eleven victims from 1998 through 2002. Clifford was a licensed chiropractor who operated an office in Carnelian Bay, California, for several years. In January of 2002, he was arrested by the Placer County Sheriff's Department for sexually assaulting… ||||| The man who popularized the phrase "greed is good" is changing teams.
Michael Douglas, who played the greedy insider-trading antihero Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film "Wall Street" and the 2010 movie "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," has taped a public service announcement for the FBI warning about the dangers of Wall Street shenanigans.
In the PSA, Douglas says: "The movie is fiction, but the problem is real." He also urges those who suspect foul play to submit it to www.fbi.gov .
In the first "Wall Street" movie, Gekko is found guilty of several securities violations and is sent to prison for his crimes.
And just for fun, here is what Gekko had to say about greed: | – The "greed is good" money man who everyone loved to hate in the movie Wall Street has turned a new leaf. He's now working for the FBI, reports MSNBC. "Gordon Gekko," aka Michael Douglas, is doing a public service announcement for the FBI cautioning consumers to be alert, warning Wall Streeters to stay on the straight and narrow, and urging snitches to turn in their law-busting buddies. Money-grubbing Gekko ends up in prison for scamming innocent investors. "The movie is fiction, but the problem is real," warns Douglas, who urges that Wall Street baddies be reported at www.fbi.gov. | [
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JASON CERONE/P-R PHOTOIn this scene from the Showtime series "Escape from Dannemora," Eric Lange who plays Lyle Mitchell goes to Sansone's restaurant in Malone to meet his wife, Joyce, but she never shows up. The real Joyce Mitchell was just denied parole again. | – A state board has denied parole to a tailor who played a key role in a prison break that's the subject of a Showtime miniseries being filmed in the northern New York region where it happened. Joyce Mitchell will remain behind bars for at least two more years for passing tools to killers Richard Matt and David Sweat, enabling their escape from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in June 2015, per the AP. The subsequent three-week manhunt ended with Matt shot dead and Sweat captured near the Canadian border. Mitchell's lawyer tells the Plattsburgh Press-Republican the parole board denied her release Friday. Patricia Arquette plays Mitchell in Showtime's Escape at Dannemora, being produced by Ben Stiller. Penelope Ann Miller starred as Mitchell in a Lifetime movie that aired in April. (In 2015, Mitchell was sentenced to serve up to seven years on a contraband charge.) | [
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Campaign mailer sent by GOP state Senate candidate Ed Charamut.
The Jewish campaign treasurer for a Republican candidate in Connecticut is defending a campaign mailer that depicts their Democratic Party opponent in what is being described as the “worst kind of anti-Semitism.”
“The full-color, double-sided mailer shows an altered image of Democrat Matt Lesser, who is Jewish, with large, beady eyes, holding fistfuls of hundred-dollar bills. There’s also a lead tagline on the other side: “Matt Lesser will take everything you worked for.” It was mailed out to homes in and around Middletown — the district where Lesser is trying to win a Senate seat,” WNPR reported Tuesday. “It was sent by his Republican opponent Ed Charamut.”
“A new line has been crossed,” said Rep. Lesser. “Two days after a horrific attack in Pittsburgh, the last thing we expected was to see something like this in Connecticut.”
“To be honest, I was shocked when I saw the mailer, I’ve never seen any quite like it,” he added.
Allan Greenspan, Charamut’s Jewish campaign treasurer, admitted the image of Lesser’s face was altered.
“His eyes were altered to look bigger and greedy,” Greenspan admitted.
Greenspan claimed he was unaware if Lesser’s nose had also been altered.
“The juxtaposition of a Jewish candidate and money in this manner suggests an age-old anti-Semitic trope,” explained Steve Ginsburg, director of the Connecticut branch of the Anti-Defamation League.
The state Republican Party lashed out at those criticizing the campaign mailer.
“If you disagree with a Democrat, this is what they do — they call you racist, sexist or bigot,” claimed GOP Chair JB Romano.
Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate laid blame with President Donald Trump for the mailer.
“Hateful rhetoric from the White House has emboldened racists, homophobes and anti-Semites to drop their dog whistles and express their bigotry clearly and openly,” Lamont told the Hartford Courant. “Those hateful words lead to violent acts. There aren’t ‘two sides’ to anti-Semitism, and there aren’t good people on ‘both sides’ of bigotry.”
This is the worst kind of antisemitism, and for it to show up just two days after the worst attack in history of Jews in America is just breathtaking and heartbreaking. — Gabe Rosenberg (@Gaber205) October 30, 2018 |||||
A mailer sent out by Republican state Senate candidate Ed Charamut in Connecticut depicts his Democratic opponent, Matthew Lesser, who is Jewish, as a money-grubbing official. (Ben Lovejoy)
A campaign mailer sent out by a Republican candidate for a state Senate seat in Connecticut is being widely denounced for using anti-Semitic tropes in an illustration of his Democratic challenger, who is Jewish.
The advertisement, which was sent out by Republican Ed Charamut’s campaign, depicts his challenger, Democratic state Rep. Matthew Lesser, holding a wad of cash in front of him, with a crazed look in his eyes.
The mailer drew wide outrage after its existence was reported on Tuesday, as concern about rising anti-Semitism runs high in the wake of the massacre of 11 Jewish congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The embrace of racially charged policies and rhetoric by Republicans, from President Trump to candidates across the country, has emboldened white-supremacist groups, and, critics say, raised questions about the party’s intent.
Lesser told The Washington Post that he was incredulous when he first heard of the issue from some people in the district, which includes Middletown.
“I did not believe them, because we live in America,” he said. “I assumed it was some sort of mistake or misunderstanding.”
He said that his likeness had been photoshopped significantly in the mailer, raising further questions about his opponent’s aim. In addition to the hands grabbing $100 bills that were added to the picture, Lesser’s face has been altered with a smile and a crooked look in his eyes, he said.
The ad was widely condemned by a broad range of commentators on Tuesday.
“This is not a problem of individual monsters,” wrote New America fellow Jill Filipovic. “It is a concerted effort to fan the flames of anti-semitism and stir up fear and hatred.”
Jewish groups also found the ad offensive.
“We do know, though, the feelings that the flier is evoking — the juxtaposition of a Jewish candidate for office and money in this manner — suggests an age-old anti-Semitic trope,” Steve Ginsburg, of the Anti-Defamation League’s Connecticut office, told the Hartford Courant. “We can’t and don’t know the [motive] of the producer of the flier, but we do know its impact, and they should clarify what they meant.”
New GOP mailer in a Connecticut state Senate race shows a Jewish candidate clutching a fistful of money. https://t.co/SlG90OA2S4 pic.twitter.com/vBE5ewKXeM — Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) October 30, 2018
Stuart S. Miller, the academic director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut, told the newspaper that the ad was “reprehensible, deeply offensive and inexcusable.”
“I cannot believe that it is an innocent allusion to a supposedly money-spending Democrat,” he said. "It just leaves me shaking my head as to the lengths some people will go to get elected or to stay in office, particularly in the present climate.”
Lesser said he was shocked by the ad the first time he saw it.
“It uses imagery that’s been used to vilify the Jewish people for hundreds of years, and grossly caricatured my face and has me clutching a pile of money,” he said. “That’s as explicitly anti-Semitic as anything can be.”
Charamut, 60, a Republican member of a local town council, defended his use of the image on Tuesday, claiming that it was intended to be a comment on tax policy.
“Those wishing to portray a graphic illustration as something hateful are completely wrong,” he said in a statement that continued to attack Lesser. “I reject hate speech in all its forms. The mailer draws a stark contrast between myself and Matt Lesser. Do you want to protect your wallets, or do you want to make Matt Lesser your new state Senator?"
So did the state Republican Party when first contacted about it.
“When I look at that, I don’t see Jewish,” J.R. Romano, the state party chairman, told the Hartford Courant. "The Democrats have false outrage all the time.”
But both changed their tone after media attention and outrage about the ad continued to grow on Wednesday.
Charamut’s campaign issued an apology to Lesser, the Jewish community and anyone else offended by the mailer, saying in a statement that the mailer was not intended to be anything more than a political statement about Lesser.
“However, it is clear now that the imagery could be interpreted as anti-Semitic, and for that we deeply apologize as hate speech of any kind does not belong in our society and especially not in our politics,” the statement said. “Up until election day we will continue to focus on the issues and it is our sincere hope that people will understand that we in no way ever intended for the mailer to be about Mr. Lesser’s religious background.”
Romano too acknowledged the mailer’s anti-Semitic undertones and said he would planned to meet with the ADL, in a statement sent to The Post.
“I had the opportunity to discuss some of the context of the recent mailer," the statement said. “In a race with a Jewish candidate, this image should be recognized as offensive, raising classic anti-Semitic tropes. It cannot be justified.”
He also said that the party had not approved the ad.
Republican officials and candidates around the country have raised eyebrows during the run-up to next week’s midterm elections by using rhetoric and advertisements that critics have said play to racial prejudices.
In New York, Republicans have continually assailed a Democratic congressional hopeful’s decade-old rap career, despite his work as an attorney and a Rhodes Scholar.
[Did Republicans go too far with an ad featuring a black congressional candidate’s rap lyrics?]
In Georgia, Republican Brian Kemp used an ad with a tap dancer to show his opponent in the governor’s race, black Democrat Stacey Abrams, “dancing around the truth,” that was also criticized as having a racist undertone.
In Florida, a Republican official claimed that if black Democrat Andrew Gillum won the governor’s race, “his people” would be getting paid back for slavery. Racist robo-calls have circulated in that race, as well.
In California, Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, who was recently indicted on charges that he and his wife used more than $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses such as family vacations, has falsely accused his opponent, an American of Palestinian and Mexican descent, of trying to “infiltrate” the government and trying to “hide” family ties to terrorism.
Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy recently accused three Democratic donors who are Jewish — Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer and George Soros — of trying to buy the midterm elections, just a day after Soros, a frequent target of anti-Semites and the far right, received a pipe bomb in the mail.
[GOP candidate for Fla. governor spoke at racially charged events]
In Iowa, Rep. Steve King (R) routinely makes the news for stunts such as retweeting a Nazi sympathizer and displaying a Confederate flag on his desk.
Lesser said the campaign for the state Senate seat had been hard-fought but had yet to turn truly nasty and personal before the mailer, saying he had higher hopes for local election contests despite the bitter national climate.
“It’s in many ways very sad,” he said. “Particularity at a moment in the nation that is so clearly fraught, I think you’re doing your constituents a disservice. We know the divisiveness that the president is setting at the national level, but it’s on those of us in the trenches working in state and local government to really make our society work.”
Maura Judkis contributed to this report.
Read more:
‘I’m Dr. Cohen’: The powerful humanity of the Jewish hospital staff that treated Robert Bowers
House Republican campaign chairman rebukes Rep. Steve King for ‘completely inappropriate’ comments on white nationalism
Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and others stick with conspiracy theories after mail-bomb suspect’s arrest
A tiny bookstore had to relocate. Hundreds formed a human chain to move its books. ||||| “I had the opportunity to discuss some of the context of the recent mailer sent by candidate Ed Charamut involving State Representative Matt Lesser,” he said in the statement. “Several things have come into perspective from conversations with Jewish friends, including Jewish Republicans. In a race with a Jewish candidate, this image should be recognized as offensive, raising classic anti-Semitic tropes. It cannot be justified. I personally would not have approved this mailer, and I am grateful that the party did not approve it. I have requested to sit down with the ADL to broaden my understanding of and sensitivity to anti-Semitism.” | – Just days after the slaying of 11 Jewish congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue, a GOP candidate for a state Senate seat in Connecticut is accused of sending a mailer using an "age-old anti-Semitic trope." The ad sent out by Ed Charamut includes what the Washington Post calls a "money-grubbing" picture (here) of smiling opponent Matt Lesser, clutching $100 bills with a "crazed look in his eyes." Lesser says the original image of him was altered to add the cash and exaggerate his expression; Charamut's Jewish campaign treasurer concedes Lesser's eyes were tweaked "to look bigger and greedy," per Raw Story. Lesser's reaction when he first heard about the ad: It was "some sort of mistake or misunderstanding." "I did not believe them, because we live in America," he adds. Others say the mailer was offensive, maybe intentionally so. But the 60-year-old GOP candidate insists the mailer was simply meant to draw a "sharp contrast" between his 35-year-old opponent's stance on tax policy and his own. "I reject hate speech in all its forms," he says. Other Republicans back him, with state Senate Chair JR Romano telling the Hartford Courant the hubbub is all "false outrage" perpetuated by Dems. "If you criticize any Democrat for failures and their record, they run into this shield that you're a racist." Romano later walked back those statements, agreeing the mailer was "offensive" after having "conversations with Jewish friends." (Mike Pence is facing his own controversy.) | [
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(CNN) -- Think you have the landlord from hell? Think again.
Did they steal your stuff? Lock you out? Threaten you with a gun? Unless they did, they're not even in contention for the title.
Husband and wife, Kip and Nicole Macy, pleaded guilty to felony charges of residential burglary, stalking and attempted grand theft this week, after terrorizing tenants for years, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
"The actions of these defendants are so outlandish and brazen that it sounds like the plot line of a horror movie," District Attorney George Gascon said.
How bad did it get?
Kip and Nicole Macy so badly wanted to evict tenants from their apartment building in the South of Market district starting in 2006, court documents say, that they cut holes in the floor of one victim's living room with a power saw while he was inside his apartment.
"He actually saw the saw coming up and trying to saw through," Assistant District Attorney Kelly Burke told CNN affiliate KTVU.
The Macys also cut out sections of the floor joists.
Before making the cuts, Nicole Macy took the time to consult with a city building inspector to make sure she knew which beam to cut to make the building structurally unsound.
"They want to make it collapse," Ricardo Cartagena, a former property manager for the Macys, told affiliate KGO.
Kip Macy later bought a semiautomatic handgun and threatened to shoot Cartagena after he refused to cut the joists himself. The couple eventually changed the locks to Cartagena's apartment, removed all of his belongings and destroyed them, court records show.
Read: Tenant evicted even though she pays rent on time
Not done yet
Nicole Macy also created a couple of fraudulent e-mails accounts to stir up trouble.
In one, pretending to be one of the victims, she fired the attorney who was representing the victim in a civil case against the Macys.
From another e-mail account, Macy sent a message to her and her husband's civil attorneys, threatening to kidnap and dismember their children. In the e-mail, she pretended to be one of victims.
Still not done
Over the course of two years, the Macys cut the victims' telephone lines and shut off their electricity, gas and water, court documents say.
Nicole Macy told workers to board up one victim's windows from the outside while he still lived there and falsely reported trespassers in the victim's apartment, causing him and a friend to be held at gunpoint by a police.
They also broke into the units of three tenants, removing nearly all of their belongings. In a separate incident, the Macys soaked their beds, clothes and electronics with ammonia.
Side trip to Italy
After being indicted by a grand jury in early 2009, the couple fled the country. More than three years later, Italian special agents apprehended them in May 2012 and returned them to the United States last month.
They will be formally sentenced in August in a plea deal that will send them to prison for four years and four months.
Cartagena said he was happy to hear that the couple would be going to prison.
"I feel happy," he told KTVU. "Finally there's justice coming."
See also: Surviving a nasty neighbor
New Jersey officer accused of burning captain's home is out on bail
CNN's Elwyn Lopez contributed to this report. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO -- A software engineer and his real estate agent wife who terrorized their tenants in a twisted attempt to force them to move are back after fleeing to Italy, and each has accepted a four-year prison sentence and two strikes rather than face trial, Dist. Atty. George Gascon announced Wednesday.
Nicknamed the "landlords from hell," Kip and Nicole Macy employed tactics "so outlandish and brazen" in attempting to clear their building of renters that "it sounds like the plot of a horror movie," Gascon said.
They each pleaded guilty to two felony counts of residential burglary, one felony count of stalking and one felony count of attempted grand theft. In custody on $2-million bail apiece, they are scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 22.
Kip Macy’s attorney, Lisa DewBerry, said the couple could have faced a maximum of 16 years in prison if tried on all charges.
Gascon, she said, "knew he could not prove everything so he settled for one quarter of the time that he charged."
Her client, she said is "really a good guy" but was at such a disadvantage due to San Francisco laws protective of tenants that "he felt he was backed into a corner."
In 2005 Kip, 38, and Nicole, 37, set in motion an "insane," nearly two-year campaign against their tenants that "destroyed his career" and derailed their lives, Gascon said.
Flanked by the assistant D.A. who worked the case, Northern California’s top U.S. marshal and the special agent for the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service who helped apprehend the couple in Milan, Gascon described bizarre acts that he said rivaled those of the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote.
The Macys had purchased the building in San Francisco’s up-and-coming South of Market district in 2005 and sought to boot its five occupants so they could renovate and sell the individual units, authorities said.
After a failed effort to evict the first tenant, Scott Morrow, the couple on two occasions sawed holes in his floor. Gascon recounted the tenant’s shock as he and a friend saw a saw blade emerge through the floorboards, then grabbed a hammer and smashed it.
Nicole Macy also ordered workers to sever weight-bearing joists above the building’s basement -- after consulting with a building inspector on the optimal way to destabilize it -- in an attempt to have the structure red-tagged as uninhabitable, an indictment said. In addition, the couple cut off gas, power and water to the units on several occasions.
A month before her husband cut through Morrow's floor, according to authorities, Nicole Macy created an email account in Morrow’s name and sent a message to his attorney, firing him. Another email that she sent in Morrow's name to her own attorney said: "One day you are going to come home to the Victorian house ... and find [your three children] missing. Then each day a package will arrive with a piece of them."
Prosecutors say the Macys also lashed out at three tenants who shared a unit in the Clementina Street building, gluing their locks, dousing their belongings in ammonia and stealing jewelry and cash. The fifth victim was a building manager whom the Macys turned on, "threatening him with a handgun," Gascon said.
The couple was first charged in 2008 and the following year a grand jury handed down an indictment. They eventually were released on bail and disappeared shortly before a June 2010 court hearing.
While their passports had been confiscated, Nicole Macy managed to get a new one under her maiden name, saying she had misplaced hers, Assistant Dist. Atty. Kelly Burke said. Kip Macy also secured a new passport, but Burke did not know how.
Italian authorities detained the couple in 2011, fingerprinted them and "confirmed their identities." They were taken into custody again in Milan in May 2012 and spent a year in jail as they fought extradition.
U.S. marshals escorted them to San Francisco last month.
Even in this city's overheated housing market where evictions are on the rise, Gascon said the Macys' methods were over-the-top.
"We've had other landlord-tenant cases, but nothing to the level of what we've seen here," he said.
Under the plea deal, the Macys, who no longer own the property, must pay restitution to victims, he added.
ALSO:
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Woman killed in West Hills talked to LAPD about estranged husband
Twitter @leeromney
lee.romney@latimes.com | – A group of San Francisco tenants really earned the right to complain about their landlords: The story of one couple's efforts to evict their tenants between 2006 and 2008 so they could sell the units is "so outlandish and brazen that it sounds like the plot line of a horror movie," says a prosecutor. Kip and Nicole Macy (dubbed the "Landlords from Hell") cut parts of their building's floor joists to "make it collapse," says property manager Ricardo Cartagena. In another attempt to get rid of a tenant, the two used a power saw to cut holes in his living room floor—while he was home, CNN reports. "He actually saw the saw coming up and trying to saw through," says an assistant district attorney. The Macys also stole tenants' belongings; poured ammonia on beds, clothes, and gadgets; cut victims' telephone, power, gas, and water services; sent fraudulent and threatening emails (including one to a lawyer saying "each day a package will arrive with a piece" of his children); and had tenants' windows boarded while they were living there, the Los Angeles Times reports. They've now pleaded guilty to burglary, attempted grand theft, and stalking after fleeing the country in 2009 and being taken into custody last year in Italy. As part of their plea deal they'll be handed four-year, four-month prison sentences. | [
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] |
The year 2015 will be slightly longer after the Paris Observatory announced it was adding a leap second to clocks this summer.
On June 30, dials will read 11:59:60 as clocks hold their breath for a second to allow the Earth’s rotation to catch up with atomic time.
Atomic time is constant, but the Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing down by around two thousandths of a second per day.
It is the task of scientists and officials at the International Earth Rotation Service based in France to monitor the planet's rotation and tweak time where necessary. Some years the Earth runs bang on time and no adjustment is needed.
Software companies are already bracing themselves for problems. When the last leap second was added in 2012 Mozilla, Reddit, Foursquare, Yelp, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon all reported crashes and there were problems with the Linux operating system and programmes written in Java.
Many computing systems use the Network Time Protocol, or NTP, to keep themselves in sync with the world’s atomic clocks. But most are not programmed to deal with an unexpected extra second.
Google has even developed a special technique to deal with what it refers to as a ‘leap smear’ where it gradually adds milliseconds to its system clocks prior to the official arrive of the leap second.
"The Earth is slowing down a little bit," said Nick Stamatakos, the chief of Earth Orientation Parameters at the US Naval Observatory.
"Atomic clocks keep very accurate time. The measurements are telling us 'Oh, they're slowing down'"
The first leap second was added in 1972, and it will be the 26th time it has been added to clocks in history.
It means the rotation of the Earth will have slowed 26 seconds compared to the time measured on atomic clocks.
"They add an extra second to something called UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) in order to make sure the rate of UTC is the same as atomic time," he said.
Adding the leap second will mean that at 11:59:59pm on June 30 for one second clocks will read 11:59:60pm.
"For that day [June 30] there'll be 86,401 seconds, instead of 86,400 seconds. The length of the day for you and I and everyone on the Earth will have an extra second," added Mr Stamatakos.
Leap seconds are rarer these days than they were when the practice of adding seconds first began.
From 1972 to 1979, at least one second was added every year. Leap seconds were added six times throughout the 1980s. But there will only have been four leap seconds added since 1999.
The US wants to get rid of leap seconds claiming they're too disruptive to precision systems used for navigation and communication. At a conference in Geneva in 2012 delegates argued that precisely timed money transactions could go astray or vehicles could be sent tens of metres out of position if they are a second out in their measurement of time
But Britain opposes the change, saying that it would forever break the link between our concept of time and the rising and setting of the Sun.
It would also spell the end for Greenwich Mean Time, which is measured by the time at which the Sun crosses the Greenwich Meridian and was adopted in Britain in 1847
Experts also fear that once this link is broken it could never be restored because although the Earth's timekeeping systems are built to accommodate the occasional leap second, adding a leap minute or hour to global time would be virtually impossible.
Rory McEvoy, Curator of Horology, Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: "Since antiquity the Earth’s rotation has provided us with our timescale – it is the Earth’s rotation that gives us our most basic unit of time, the solar day.
"In the early 20th century civil time, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), was disseminated by radio signal. The clocks connected to the radio transmitters were constantly checked and adjusted, when necessary, according to astronomical determination of time.
"This setup did not require leap seconds. It was only after the redefinition of the si second in 1967, when it became an issue because it was based on atomic timekeeping (more accurate than the Earth). It was felt that civil time, Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC), should correspond with Earth rotation. In 1972 the first leap second was added to UTC to correct the disparity.
"The Earth’s speed of rotation has a tendency to slow – caused principally because of the relationship between Earth and the moon – but it can speed up. There is a possibility that a negative leap second could be added to UTC.
"The abolition of the leap second is being considered and after around 12 years of discussion there may be a decision made later this year." ||||| Because Earth's rotation is slowing ever so slightly, we occasionally need to add an extra second to re-sync our super-precise atomic clocks to our planet's rotation. But you know who's not on board with that? Those damn computers, whose operating systems just can't handle it. The last time we added a leap second in 2012, it wreaked havoc across the Internet.
Leap seconds are governed by the Paris-based International Earth Rotation Service, which this week announced its plan to make June 30, 2015 one second longer. This will be the 26th such leap second added since 1972.
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In those intervening decades, though, we've become ever more dependent on computers and GPS systems that need to keep exact time—making the task ever more fraught. In 2012, the act of adding a simple second took down Mozilla, Reddit, Foursquare, Yelp, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon, according to the Telegraph. And yes, Gizmodo was not spared either.
It mostly has to do with NTP, or the Network Time Protocol computers use to sync with atomic clocks. If a computer sees the same second twice in a row, it logically thinks something went very wrong. There are fixes to this, but they've obviously not been implemented across the board.
Apparently, the Telegraph reports, there's been some controversy over whether to keep adding leap seconds. U.S. delegates have argued that "precisely timed money transactions could go astray or vehicles could be sent tens of metres out of position if they are a second out in their measurement of time." It's amazing to think that our world is so interconnected but fragile that a single second could send hiccups rippling through the system.
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But, perhaps, more frighteningly, if we don't keep adding leap seconds, the primordial link between our notion of a day and the rotation of the Earth could be forever disrupted.
Experts also fear that once this link is broken it could never be restored because although the Earth's timekeeping systems are built to accommodate the occasional leap second, adding a leap minute or hour to global time would be virtually impossible.
After all, what is a day? Is it 24 hours exactly? Is it one complete revolution of the Earth? Armed with our super-precise modern instruments, we find ourselves asking basic questions about our world. [The Telegraph]
Top image: Janaka Dharmasena/Shutterstock | – The powers that be in the world of time management have decreed that the world needs to gain an extra second this year. More precisely, the folks at the International Earth Rotation Service in Paris have decided to add one second to June 30, 2015, to sync our atomic clocks to the Earth's slowing rotation, reports Phys.org. It's called a "leap second," and this will be the 26th one since the 1970s. The problem is that the last time this happened, in 2012, it caused all kinds of problems for all kinds of websites. "If a computer sees the same second twice in a row, it logically thinks something went very wrong," explains Gizmodo. "There are fixes to this, but they've obviously not been implemented across the board." Google has developed a work-around in which it "gradually adds milliseconds to its system clocks prior to the official arrive of the leap second," reports the Telegraph, though it's not clear whether other sites will follow suit. Meanwhile, the US is pushing for the end of leap seconds altogether, given their potential to wreak havoc with financial transactions, navigation, and communication in general. A decision could come later this year, but opponents such as Britain argue that the move has the hard-to-fathom potential to mess up our notion of telling time by the rising and setting of the sun—eventually our clocks would be noticeably out of whack with the Earth's rotation. "Another possibility," writes Bob Yirka at Phys.org, is "to maintain a dual system, one for technologists, the other for everybody else." (This might be the most precise clock on the planet.) | [
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BOSTON (WBZ/CNN) - Everybody knows that even very young children can form special friendships.
But at one preschool in Georgetown, Mam little ones aren't allowed to call each other "best friends."
The school says the reason is that this language doesn't promote inclusivity.
Julia Hartwell loves her dolls in arts and crafts and like most four- year-olds, she has a best friend.
"She said you know so-and-so you're my best buddy. The teacher told her that she couldn't say that there in school,” Julia’s mother, Christine Hartwell, said.
At Pentucket Workshop Preschool, that's not a term Julie can use to describe her friendship.
"I think it's ridiculous,” said Christine Hartwell. “Children who are four years old speak from their heart, so they should be able to call kids anything loving.”
The preschool offered an explanation to Julia's parents, saying "the term ‘best friend’ can lead other children to feel excluded and it can ultimately lead to the formation of cliques and outsiders."
The school wants to encourage their students to have a wider group of friends.
"Although I think that words are really important and the term 'best' does have an implied meaning to it, I don't know if the right answer is necessarily denying children the ability to use that term,” said Gregory Young, a pediatric psychologist.
Christine Hartwell said the chiding has left her daughter confused.
"Even now she goes to say it in a loving way - 'I'm going to go see my best friend Charlie' or this one or that one - and she looks at me sideways as she's saying it and she's checking in with me to see if that language is okay."
Christine Hartwell said her daughter will not be going to school the rest of the year.
The Pentucket Workshop Preschool has not commented.
Copyright 2018 WBZ via CNN. All rights reserved. ||||| Students attending one preschool in Massachusetts are not allowed to call each other "best friends."Little Julia attends Pentucket Workshop Preschool in Georgetown. Like many 4-year-olds, she loves her dolls, arts and crafts and she has a best friend."She said you know so-and-so, you're my best buddy. The teacher told her that she couldn't say that there in school," Julia's mother, Christine Hartwell, told WBZ-TV."Best friend" is not a term Julia can use at Pentucket Workshop Preschool."I think it's ridiculous. Children who are 4 years old speak from their heart, so they should be able to call kids anything loving - you're my best friend, you're my best pal," Hartwell said.The school explained to Hartwell that "the term best friend can lead other children to feel excluded," and it can "ultimately lead to the formation of cliques and outsiders," and the school encourages "students to have a wider group of friends.""Although I think that words are really important and the term 'best' does have an implied meaning to it. I don't know if the right answer is necessarily denying children the ability to use that term," said Dr. Gregory Young, a pediatric psychologist.Hartwell says Julia still says "best friend" at home, but her daughter seems unsure if the term is appropriate since she was told not to use it at school"Even now she goes to say it in a loving way -- 'I'm going to go see my best friend Charlie' or this one or that one -- and she looks at me sideways as she's saying it, and she's checking in with me to see if that language is OK," Hartwell said.Hartwell says her daughter will not be going to school the rest of the year. Pentucket Workshop Preschool has not responded to a request for comment. ||||| GEORGETOWN, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts family is looking for a new preschool for their 4-year-old daughter because her current school has barred use of the term "best friend."
Christine Hartwell says her daughter, Julia, appeared sad recently when she came home from the Pentucket Workshop Preschool in Georgetown.
The little girl told her mother she was upset because her teacher told her she couldn't call one of her classmates her "best friend."
School officials did not comment. But, in a letter to the Hartwells they said, it had been their experience that the use of the term "best friend," even when used in a loving way, can lead some children feeling excluded.
Hartwell called the ban "outrageous" and "silly." She says children should be allowed to speak from their heart. ||||| Sign of the apocalypse?
Massachusetts preschool discouraging kids from using the phrase, "best friend."#WBZ @GaryBrodeNewshttps://t.co/3I8N5K4Hq1 — Ryan Kath (@ryankath) April 19, 2018
Are schools banning kids from saying they have a best friend?
WBZ-TV in Boston reported on the Pentucket Workshop Preschool in Georgetown, Mass., where the mother of an enrolled 4-year-old said her daughter was discouraged from using the term.
Christine Hartwell, the mother of 4-year-old Julia, told WBZ that she thought the practice was “ridiculous.” The school, she told the station, said the term can lead to feelings of exclusion and the formation of cliques.
Pentucket Workshop Preschool is a licensed day-care program serving children who are nearly 3 years old to 5 years old. The day care prides itself on educating its second generation of families, with a faculty possessing a combined 250 years of teaching experience with young children. And it says it emphasizes developing social-emotional skills and independence in kids.
Hartwell was quoted as saying about her daughter: “Even now, she goes to say it in a loving way, ‘I’m going to see my best friend Charlie’ or this one or that, and she looks at me sideways. She’s checking in with me to see if it’s okay.”
The school did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In January, psychologist Barbara Greenberg wrote a piece in U.S. News & World Report saying:
I am always fascinated by trends. And I am especially intrigued by the emerging trend among European schools, and now some American schools as well, to ban best friends.
That’s right. Some schools are attempting to ban the entire concept of children having best friends.
The article didn’t mention the names of any schools, however. That didn’t stop a rash of media outlets from writing about the piece as if a ban on best friends was becoming common.
Many schools in the United States urge parents not to exclude their children’s classmates from an outside activity if most students are invited. That’s not the same as discouraging having a best friend or banning the use of the term on campus.
Greenberg may have been referring to a Sept. 11, 2017, article in the British edition of Marie Claire magazine with this headline: “Prince George won’t be allowed to have a best friend at school.” The story said the private Thomas’s day school in Battersea — the school Prince William’s son attends — encourages students to have a lot of friends, and tells parents to invite all children to birthday parties.
A 2013 article in the British newspaper the Telegraph reported that there was no official policy at the Battersea school but that its headmaster, Ben Thomas, said there was “sound judgment” behind discouraging children from picking best friends. It quoted him as saying:
You can get very possessive friendships, and it is much easier if they share friendships and have a wide range of good friends rather than obsessing too much about who their best friend is. I would certainly endorse a policy which says we should have lots of good friends, not a best friend.
If anybody knows of a school with a policy banning kids from having or talking about having a best friend, please let me know. | – A Massachusetts mom isn't too thrilled with the word-ban imposed by her daughter's preschool, the AP reports. Christine Hartwell says her 4-year-old daughter Julia came home unhappy from the Pentucket Workshop Preschool in Georgetown because her teacher said the term "best buddy" was forbidden. "I think it's ridiculous," Hartwell tells WIS-TV. "Children who are four years old speak from their heart, so they should be able to call kids anything loving." The school explained to the Hartwells that the term "best friend ... can lead other children to feel excluded" and "ultimately lead to the formation of cliques and outsiders," per ABC 7. Pentucket hasn't responded to the media, leaving a gap filled by pediatric psychologist Gregory Young: "I think that words are really important and the term 'best' does have an implied meaning to it," he says, "[but] I don't know if the right answer is necessarily denying children the ability to use that term." Media reports in recent years have referred to a "best friend" ban in European and British schools but didn't give any concrete evidence, the Washington Post reports. As for Julia, she seems unnerved by the whole thing: "Even now she goes to say it in a loving way—'I'm going to go see my best friend Charlie' or this one or that one—and she looks at me sideways as she's saying it and she's checking in with me to see if that language is okay," Hartwell says. | [
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] |
Report says air pollution is having a devastating impact on children worldwide, storing up a public health time bomb
Poisonous air is having a devastating impact on billions of children around the world, damaging their intelligence and leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to a report from the World Health Organization.
The study found that more than 90% of the world’s young people – 1.8 billion children – are breathing toxic air, storing up a public health time bomb for the next generation.
The WHO said medical experts in almost every field of children’s health are uncovering new evidence of the scale of the crisis in both rich and poor countries – from low birth weight to poor neurodevelopment, asthma to heart disease.
Dr Tedros Adhanom, WHO director general, said: “Polluted air is poisoning millions of children and ruining their lives. This is inexcusable – every child should be able to breathe clean air so they can grow and fulfil their potential.”
The findings coincide with the start of the first global conference on air pollution and health in Geneva, including a high-level action day at which nations and cities are expected to make new commitments to cut air pollution.
The WHO study found that children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution because pollutants are often more concentrated nearer to ground level. It added that their developing organs and nervous system are also more susceptible to long-term damage than those of adults.
“Air pollution is stunting our children’s brains, affecting their health in more ways than we suspected,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO director of public health and the environment.
The study found that 600,000 children die from acute lower respiratory infections caused by dirty air and 93% are exposed to one of the most damaging pollutants – PM2.5. In poorer countries, 98% of all children under five are exposed to PM2.5 above WHO guidelines.
Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable, with dirty air linked to premature and underweight children. Air pollution also increases the risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease later in life.
Tedros, writing in the Guardian on Saturday, described air pollution as the “new tobacco”, saying the simple act of breathing is killing 7 million people a year and harming billions more.
In the UK, most urban areas have illegal levels of air pollution and ministers have lost three times in the high court after challenges over the inadequacy of their action. The latest government action plan, called “pitiful” by environmental lawyers, revealed air pollution was actually much worse than previously feared.
Globally, with smoking on the decline, air pollution now causes more deaths annually than tobacco. However, researchers think the harm known to be caused by air pollution, such as heart attacks and lung disease, is only “the tip of the iceberg”.
Today’s report found that both indoor and outdoor air pollution was causing significant health problems. It said burning fuel such as wood or paraffin for heating, cooking and light in poorer countries was having a drastic impact on children’s health and called on governments to promote the clean alternatives as a matter of urgency.
Neira said there were “many straightforward ways to reduce emissions of dangerous pollutants ”, including “accelerating the switch to clean cooking and heating fuels and technologies, [and] promoting the use of cleaner transport, energy-efficient housing and urban planning. We are preparing the ground for low-emission power generation, cleaner, safer industrial technologies and better municipal waste management.”
Children are breathing dirty air – and parents are being left to fix it | Maria Miller and Ed Miliband Read more
Mark Watts, executive director of the C40 Cities group, which represents cities around the world working to tackle the climate crisis and air pollution, said the report was an urgent call to action.
“The moral and practical case for urgent, bold and far-reaching action to reduce emissions, including calling an end to the fossil fuel era, is now utterly irrefutable,” he said.
“Citizens are demanding action to protect their children, mayors of the world’s big cities are regulating to take dirty vehicles off the streets and slash emissions from buildings and waste. Now is the moment for governments, car manufacturers and other big polluters to step up.”
Neira said the air pollution crisis and the climate emergency could only be tackled together.
“The solutions are a basic public health agenda that will have plenty of benefits for public health and the environment,” she said. “No matter what else, we know that we need to decarbonise our society sooner rather than later and the benefits of that for our health and our economy are indisputable.” ||||| (CNN) Around 93% of the world's children under 15 years of age breathe air that is so polluted it puts their health and development at serious risk, accounting for 1.8 billion children, according to a report published by the World Health Organization ahead of its first global conference on air pollution and health in Geneva.
In 2016, 600,000 children were estimated to have died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air.
Air pollution is one of the leading threats to health in children under 5, accounting for almost one in 10 deaths among this age group, the report reveals.
"This is inexcusable. Every child should be able to breathe clean air so they can grow and fulfil their full potential" said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement.
Air pollution also effects neurological development and cognitive ability and can trigger asthma and childhood cancer, the report says. Children exposed to excessive pollution may also be at greater risk of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease in adulthood.
"Air pollution is stunting our children's brains, affecting their health in more ways than we suspected. But there are many straightforward ways to reduce emissions of dangerous pollutants," said Dr. Maria Neira, director of the Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health at the WHO.
According to the WHO, children are more susceptible to pollution because they breathe more often, taking in more pollutants, and are closer to the ground, which is where some pollutants have higher concentrations.
India reaching peak season
In few places is pollution more pertinent than India's most populous city, Delhi, where residents are bracing themselves for peak crop-burning season and the annual Hindu festival of Diwali, both of which add to a thick, toxic smog cast over the city.
"Air pollution is one of the leading risk factors for the national burden of disease in India," the report states, adding that researchers tracked more than 1,000 women in India throughout pregnancy and found a direct correlation between increased exposure to pollution and premature, underweight babies.
Air conditions are deteriorating quickly in the country's capital; 29 monitoring stations in the city on Monday recorded "very poor" air quality while four stations recorded air quality as "severe." Delhi is now the second most polluted major city in the world, according to air quality tracker AirVisual, second only to Lahore in Pakistan.
"Weather conditions are projected to become adverse from November 1," warned the India Meteorological Department in a statement made last week. A task force led by the country's Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has recommended a ban on all construction activities in the Delhi-NCR region for 10 days beginning November 1 to reduce dust as air quality is expected to deteriorate.
The average level of PM2.5 -- particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameterthat can dangerously clog lungs -- was 354 in the city on Monday. The WHO considers levels under 25 to be acceptable for humans to breathe regularly.
Among low- and middle-income countries, 98% of all children under 5 are exposed to PM2.5 levels above WHO air quality guidelines, the report found. In comparison, in high-income countries, 52% of children under 5 are exposed to such levels.
The most recent air pollution data from WHO released in March gave India the distinction of having the world's 10 most polluted cities.
Delhi's air is so polluted that residents could live as much as nine years longer if Delhi met WHO standards, estimated the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago in a study published in 2017.
Last year, the Indian Medical Association declared a public health emergency because of alarming pollution levels and hospitals were clogged with wheezing men, women and children.
Why is it so bad in India?
As winter approaches, crop burning, firecrackers and a fall in temperatures fuel the annual deterioration in Delhi's already-poor air quality.
Every year, farmers across fertile neighboring states set fire to their fields to clear them for the next season. Known as stubble burning, the practice means millions of tons of crop residue are set alight, releasing untold amounts of particulate matter into the environment.
Stubble burning in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana contributed 32% of Delhi's overall pollution on Saturday, according to a report by the country's System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).
The authorities have tried to reduce crop burning by imposing fines and providing subsidies for alternative machinery, but for many farmers there is still no affordable alternative.
The city is also preparing for Diwali, the annual festival of lights, which begins this year on November 7. Residents celebrate by lighting lamps and bursting firecrackers, which have caused a sharp spike in pollution levels in previous years.
During Diwali last year, Delhi's air quality index reached 604 -- more than 24 times higher than the level the WHO deems safe.
This year, authorities hope that a Supreme Court ban on the sale of most firecrackers will help prevent a plunge in air quality, though critics are skeptical about how effective the ban will be and how it will be enforced.
What is being done about it?
In response to falling air quality in India, the country's Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) started implementation of a graded response action plan for the second year running, under which certain measures are taken as the air quality worsens.
Measures introduced so far include a periodic mechanized sweeping of roads with heavy traffic, water sprinkling on unpaved roads and an increase in parking fees of up to four times. Rules are also enforced for dust control in construction activities and only trucks registered after 2005 are permitted entry into the city.
If the situation gets bad enough, authorities will consider banning trucks and construction in the city altogether.
Government bodies have warned Delhi residents to keep windows shut, wear masks and minimize use of private vehicles to curb the effects of increasing pollution in the city. They have also advised people to avoid outdoor activities in the coming days.
What needs to be done globally
The WHO says a range of actions are needed to curb the problem and protect the health of children worldwide, including the implementation of new policies to reduce pollution levels -- such as further reducing dependence on fossil fuels and aiding the use of renewable energy, providing greater resources to heath professionals, improving waste management and locating schools and playgrounds away from busy roads and factories.
Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.
"WHO is supporting implementation of health-wise policy measures like accelerating the switch to clean cooking and heating fuels and technologies, promoting the use of cleaner transport, energy-efficient housing and urban planning," said the WHO's Neira. "We are preparing the ground for low-emission power generation, cleaner, safer industrial technologies and better municipal waste management." ||||| Air pollution is a silent public health emergency, killing 7 million people every year and damaging the health of many, many more.
Despite this epidemic of needless, preventable deaths and disability, a smog of complacency pervades the planet.
This is a defining moment and we must scale up action to urgently respond to this challenge.
Air pollution puts the health of billions at risk from the simple act of breathing. The World Health Organization estimates nine in 10 people globally breathe polluted, toxic air.
Air pollution is a health risk at every stage of life.
The Guardian view on air pollution: it’s time for politicians to clean up | Editorial Read more
Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy can damage a developing baby’s vital organs including the brain, heart and lungs and lead to a range of conditions including asthma, heart disease and cancers.
Air pollution also negatively affects brain development during childhood, lowering children’s chances of success in school and employment possibilities later in life.
The WHO’s latest estimates show that air pollution is responsible for one-quarter to one-third of deaths from heart attack, stroke, lung cancer and chronic respiratory disease.
No one, rich or poor, can escape air pollution. A clean and healthy environment is the single most important precondition for ensuring good health. By cleaning up the air we breathe, we can prevent or at least reduce some of the greatest health risks.
Although air pollution is getting worse in many parts of the world, this is not an inevitable march toward disaster.
There is much that we can do to improve air quality, but we must all play our part. No person, group, city, country or region can solve the problem alone. We need strong commitments and actions from everyone: government decision-makers, community leaders, mayors, civil society, the private sector and even the individual. It will take time and endurance but we all have a critical role to play.
The WHO is already taking on the battle. We are empowering health professionals not only to explain the risks of air pollution to their patients and how best to reduce those risks, but to give them the skills and evidence to advocate for health in policy decisions impacting air quality and public health.
Through global commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris climate accord and the Urban Agenda 2030, the WHO is building alliances with partners working in energy, climate and environment.
We are using the “health argument” to bring different players in transport, urban planning, housing, energy and environment to the table and giving them the tools, resources and support to evaluate the health impacts of their policy decisions.
The WHO also supports the health sector to “walk the talk” on air pollution and health. Inefficient energy use in hospitals and other healthcare facilities contributes to air pollution but is also a barrier to providing even the most basic health services and ultimately universal healthcare. The WHO is working with partners in the energy sector to understand the power needs of essential medical services, and to help drive innovation in clean and renewable energy power for healthcare delivery.
We need a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty – and we need it now | Andrew Simms and Peter Newell Read more
Despite the overwhelming evidence, political action is still urgently needed to boost investments and speed up action to reduce air pollution.
I am excited and honoured that, in less than a week, the WHO will host the first global conference on air pollution and health, where leaders will chart next steps for future action to cut air pollution in their countries.
The conference will include a high-level “action day” at which we expect ministers, mayors, heads of intergovernmental organisations and others to make commitments to reduce air pollution and its impact on health. This will include measures like strengthening standards and legislation on air quality, improving assessment of the effects of pollution, enhancing global leadership and advocacy, ensuring access to clean energy and increasing investments in low-emissions technologies, as well as research, monitoring and evaluation.
The world has turned the corner on tobacco. Now it must do the same for the “new tobacco”: the toxic air that billions breathe every day.
• Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is director general of the World Health Organization. | – The World Health Organization is out with some new numbers on air pollution, and the numbers are hard to fathom: In 2016, 600,000 children were estimated to have died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air, reports CNN. About 1.8 billion children worldwide—that would be 93%—breathe air so toxic that it puts their health, their physical development, and their intelligence at risk, reports the Guardian. In poorer nations, a staggering 98% of children under the age of 5 are exposed to PM2.5, one of the most harmful pollutants, in levels that exceed the WHO's safety guidelines. The pollution isn't always of the outdoor variety: The burning of wood or paraffin for heating, cooking, and light also takes a toll, especially in poorer nations. Pregnant women who breathe such dirty air are more prone to deliver premature and underweight children. Air pollution is the "new tobacco" and is responsible for 7 million premature deaths annually, writes WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a Guardian op-ed. The report is out on the eve of the group's Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health. More on the risks that air pollution poses on pregnant women. | [
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Sitting for too long could be responsible for 4 percent of global deaths
After an increasing amount of research has already outlined the negative effects of sitting for long periods of time, a new study has now found that long periods of inactivity are to blame for nearly 4 percent of all deaths worldwide.
Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and carried out by researchers from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and San Jorge University in Zaragoza, Spain, the study looked at 54 countries across the world using data from between 2002 to 2011.
The data revealed that over 60% of people worldwide spend more than three hours a day sitting down, with adults spending on average 4.7 hours of their day sat down.
According to the study this inactivity is causing 3.8% of deaths across the world -- approximately 433,000 deaths a year.
The team found that the highest rates of death were found in the Western Pacific, followed by parts of Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean region, America and Southeast Asia.
Looking at the results by country, the highest rates were found in Lebanon (11.6%), the Netherlands (7.6%) and Denmark (6.9%), while the lowest rates were in Mexico (0.6%), Myanmar (1.3%) and Bhutan (1.6%). Spain falls within the average range with 3.7% of deaths, with Canada and the USA both above the average with 4.7 percent and 4.2 percent of deaths respectively.
Several studies published in 2012 by the journal Lancet already that showed 31% of the global population fails to meet the current recommendations for physical activity, with the authors of the study calculating that increasing active time and reducing sitting time in the countries studied could increase life expectancy by 0.20 years.
According to their analysis, reducing sitting time by two hours -- around a 50% reduction on the average sitting time found in the study -- would result in a 2.3% decrease in risk of mortality (three times less). Even a reduction of just 10 percent -- or half an hour a day -- could reduce mortality by 0.6%.
The team now advise that sedentary behavior should be minimized in order to prevent premature deaths around the world and suggest that strategic national health campaigns, such as bike-sharing systems, could be rolled out by countries to get the population moving more.
||||| The next time you wrap up your work day and realise you've been sitting in front of the computer for almost eight straight hours, maybe you won't feel so proud of yourself. A new study, conducted in 54 countries around the world, declares that 3.8% of all deaths are due to the fact that society spends more than three hours a day sitting down.
Each year people go into September with a number of resolutions. Exercising and not spending so much time on the couch tend to be some of these good intentions. 31% of the worldwide population does not meet the current recommendations for physical activity according to several studies published in 2012 by the journal The Lancet.
In addition, a lack of exercise is associated with major noncommunicable diseases and with deaths of any cause -inactivity is the culprit behind 6% to 9% of total worldwide deaths-.
Today's lifestyle has an impact on these numbers. In fact, various studies over the last decade have demonstrated how the excessive amount of time we spend sitting down may increase the risk of death, regardless of whether or not we exercise.
A new study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and in which San Jorge University in Zaragoza (Spain) participated, now estimates the proportion of deaths attributable to that 'chair effect' in the population of 54 countries, using data from 2002 to 2011.
"It is important to minimise sedentary behaviour in order to prevent premature deaths around the world," Leandro Rezende, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) explains. He also highlights that "cutting down on the amount of time we sit could increase life expectancy by 0.20 years in the countries analysed."
The results reveal that over 60% of people worldwide spend more than three hours a day sitting down -the average in adults is 4.7 hours/day-, and this is the culprit behind 3.8% of deaths (approximately 433,000 deaths/year).
Among the territories studied, there were more deaths in the regions of the Western Pacific, followed by European countries, the Eastern Mediterranean, America and Southeast Asia. The highest rates were found in Lebanon (11.6%), the Netherlands (7.6%) and Denmark (6.9%), while the lowest rates were in Mexico (0.6%), Myanmar (1.3%) and Bhutan (1.6%). Spain falls within the average range with 3.7% of deaths due to this 'chair effect'.
More movement, fewer deaths
The authors calculate that reducing the amount of time we sit by about two hours (i.e., 50%) would mean a 2.3% decrease in mortality (three times less), although it is not possible to confirm whether this is a causal relationship.
Even a more modest reduction in sitting time, by 10% or half an hour per day, could have an immediate impact on all causes of mortality (0.6%) in the countries evaluated.
In the words of the experts, measures aimed at addressing the determining factors behind this sedentary conduct would be necessary. "Some examples of this approach were recently highlighted by the World Health Organization," adds Rezende.
"For example, a strategic health communication campaign was developed to promote physical activity among women in Tonga (Oceania), while a bicycle-sharing system was developed in Iran in addition to a sustainable transport system in Germany," he concludes. | – You might want to sit down for this. On second thought, keep standing. A study published last month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that sitting for more than three hours per day is responsible for 3.8%—or approximately 433,000—of all deaths worldwide every year. At this point, it's old news that sitting for long periods of time is bad for your health. But who knew it could be this deadly? According to a press release, researchers looked at data collected from 54 countries between 2002 and 2011. They found that more than 60% of the world's population sits for more than three hours per day, with the average being approximately 4.7 hours. The highest amount of sitting-related deaths were in the Western Pacific and parts of Europe, AFP reports. Lebanon and the Netherlands topped the list, while Mexico and Myanmar had the fewest sitting-related deaths. Researchers found that eliminating sitting could increase overall life expectancy by 0.2 years, while reducing daily sitting time by two hours could decrease an individual's mortality by 2.4%. Even sitting for 30 minutes less per day can have a positive impact on mortality. "It is important to minimize sedentary behavior in order to prevent premature deaths around the world," the study's lead author says. (Even some activity can keep death at bay for couch potatoes.) | [
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“Late Show” host Stephen Colbert is facing backlash for a joke he made about President Donald Trump on Monday night that many are calling “homophobic.”
During his opening monologue, Colbert went off on Trump over the President’s treatment of CBS News’ John Dickerson, who saw an interview with Trump abruptly ended when he asked about the President’s unproven claims that then-President Obama had wiretapped Trump and members of his campaign. As Dickerson and Colbert are both CBS employees, Colbert felt it his duty to say the things Dickerson himself could not.
“Sir, you attract more skinheads than free Rogaine,” Colbert said near the end of the insult-laden rant. “You have more people marching against you than cancer. You talk like a sign language gorilla that got hit in the head. In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c–k holster.” The final remark has drawn the internet’s ire, with viewers taking to social media to declare Colbert is homophobic.The hashtag #FireColbert began spreading around Twitter, along with calls for people to boycott sponsors of the late-night show.
CBS did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.
Of course, this is not the first time Colbert has been the subject of a campaign to get him pulled off the air. Back in 2014 when he was hosting “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central, that show’s official Twitter account posted a message saying, ““I am willing to show Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.” The tweet was meant to satirize Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snider, who started a charity to benefit Native Americans. Many perceived the tweet as a racist assault on Asians and Asian-Americans, leading to the creation of the hashtag #CancelColbert. Colbert reveled in the controversy, however, even promoting it on future episodes of “The Colbert Report.”
If and how he will respond to the current firestorm remains to be seen. Read some of the reactions to Colbert’s joke below.
Waaaaaaay over the line. Needs to issue a formal apology & go on several weeks of UNPAID leave. Else, #FireColbert. https://t.co/CcD09EHtvn — John Panda Skjult (@skjultster) May 2, 2017
Unfunny show has now become a disgusting show. Turning off CBS. #FireColbert — Daniel Doran (@danielktdoran) May 2, 2017
You know, it's time to #FireColbert cos if this was Rush saying this about Obama his head would roll. It's time to level the playing field https://t.co/SwXHHFFb3c — Jake Taylor (@Number7Catches) May 2, 2017
On one hand, @JimmyKimmelLive tugging at the heartstrings with genuine feels. On the other, homophobic @colbertlateshow. #FireColbert — It Comeys At Night (@ItComeysAtNight) May 2, 2017
#FIRECOLBERT His remarks about our president were disgusting even for him. — Claricia Quinn (@ClariciaQ) May 2, 2017
That's really out of line. Won't watch Colbert again. Don't like his show anyway. So politically correct until it comes 2 this? #FireColbert — Candy (@Candlest) May 2, 2017 ||||| Stephen Colbert Goes Homophobic on Trump
Stephen Colbert Goes Homophobic On Donald Trump
Stephen Colbert unleashed a torrent of anti-Trump jokes on his show Monday night, ending with a cock-in-Trump's-mouth jab that made his audience roar.
The 12-minute tirade was dedicated to the 100-day mark in Trump's presidency, and Colbert went after Trump with a vengeance.
The jokes included, "The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's cock holster."
The audience loved it, but ... hard to ignore it's a seriously homophobic punchline ... the kind of thing that usually gets celebs in hot water. ||||| The Federal Communications Commission is scrutinizing Stephen Colbert's vulgar joke about President Trump on “The Late Show” this week, according to Chairman Ajit Pai, and will consider a possible fine.
“I have had a chance to see the clip now and so, as we get complaints — and we’ve gotten a number of them — we are going to take the facts that we find, and we are going to apply the law as it’s been set out by the Supreme Court and other courts, and we’ll take the appropriate action,” Pai said Thursday on Philadelphia radio station WPHT-AM.
On his late-night comedy show on CBS Monday, Colbert said of the president: “The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c--- holster”
Colbert responded to criticism (#FireColbert trended on Twitter) Wednesday night with a qualified apology.
“I would change a few words that were cruder than they needed to be,” Colbert said, reflecting on a joke that some viewers considered homophobic. “I’m not going to repeat the phrase. But I just want to say, for the record, life is short, and anyone who expresses their love in their own way, is to me an American hero. I think we can all agree on that. I hope even the president and I can agree on that. Nothing else. But that.”
At the same time, Colbert doubled down on his general approach to ripping the president in his comedy.
“Folks, if you saw my monologue Monday, you know that I was a little upset with Donald Trump for insulting a friend of mine,” Colbert said. “So, at the end of that monologue, I had a few choice insults for the president in return. I don’t regret that. I believe he can take care of himself. I have jokes; he has the launch codes. So, it’s a fair fight.”
Because his show airs late at night, Colbert has more freedom than people who appear on television earlier in the day. But he could still be penalized for using obscene language.
According to the FCC, “for content to be ruled obscene, it must meet a three-pronged test established by the Supreme Court: It must appeal to an average person's prurient interest; depict or describe sexual conduct in a 'patently offensive' way; and, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”
Andrew Schwartzman, a media law specialist at the Georgetown University Law Center, said he believes Colbert and CBS are safe.
“What Colbert said, if run unbleeped, probably wouldn't meet the test for indecency that applies before 10 p.m.,” Schwartzman said. The FCC's indecency standard is lower than its obscenity standard. Indecent content “portrays sexual or excretory organs or activities in a way that does not meet the three-prong test for obscenity.”
As Schwartzman sees it, “there is zero chance this could meet the obscenity test.”
Pai was far less definitive in his remarks. “I don't want to prejudge whatever determination the FCC might make,” he said.
Whether the FCC comes down on Colbert or not, he might consider the company he keeps by descending into quips about oral sex.
After Infowars founder Alex Jones said in March that Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) “looks like the archetypal c---sucker,” Jones’s ex-wife tried to submit the remark as evidence in a child custody trial. When Fox News’s Jesse Watters said of Ivanka Trump last week that he “really liked how she was speaking into that microphone,” he took an abrupt “vacation” while the outrage died down.
Colbert's liberal viewers might take a moment to reflect, too.
“Our motto,” Michelle Obama said in her address to the Democratic National Convention last year, “is when they go low, we go high.”
Yeah, about that: The threat of a violent protest prevented conservative commentator and best-selling author Ann Coulter from speaking at the University of California at Berkeley last week. Liberal readers of the New York Times are flooding the newspaper’s public editor with complaints about the recent hiring of conservative columnist Bret Stephens — a conservative who didn’t even support Trump during the election, by the way.
[The problem with calling Bret Stephens a climate change 'denier']
The new chair of the Democratic National Committee, Thomas Perez, can’t seem to stop cussing in public. And every couple of hours, an automated Twitter account created by a Chicago software developer tweets the name, hometown, occupation and employer of an individual who donated to Trump’s campaign.
Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are holding a week-long series of rallies across the U.S., and Perez has some choice words for Republican leaders. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)
“It is very clearly doxxing and harassing small-dollar donors,” Brianna Wu, a Democratic congressional candidate in Massachusetts, told me last week.
“There’s a real sense — that we have to get past on the left — that every person who voted for Trump is evil,” she added.
That “real sense” appears to foster a mentality (among some) in which Trump and his supporters deserve whatever venom his detractors feel like spewing.
Colbert’s comedy is often laced with anti-Trump commentary; it’s usually clever, and it has propelled him to the top of the late-night ratings. But by hitting below the belt Monday, he rushed the bro-ternity of Jones and Watters and became the latest liberal to ignore Obama’s “go high” mantra.
This post, originally published Tuesday, May 2, has been updated. Paul Farhi contributed to this report. ||||| Tweet with a location
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Yes ||||| Donald Trump supporter and major Stephen Colbert non-fan Karl Rove participated in Fox News Channel’s new 5 PM program The Fox News Specialists on Tuesday, when talk turned to media outlets that have blasted as homophobic Colbert’s Monday monologue about Trump.
#FireColbert was trending worldwide on Twitter Tuesday afternoon and evening after Monday’s Late Show broadcast. In the opening monologue, Colbert had many things to say to Trump, hours after CBS News played its POTUS 100 Days interview, in which Trump insulted Face the Nation anchor John Dickerson more than once.
“Let me introduce you to something we call The Tiffany Way,” Colbert began. “When you insult one member of the CBS family you insult us all.”
Then he returned the favor:
– You’re not the POTUS; you’re the BLOTUS. You’re a regular Gorge Washington. – Sir, you attract more skinheads than free Rogaine. – You have more people marching against you than cancer. – You talk like a sign-language gorilla that got hit in the head. In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c*ck holster.
Tuesday afternoon, the FNC show’s three regulars — Eric Bolling, Katherine Timpf, and Eboni K. Williams — discussed particularly that last gag.
Timpf called it “not really” homophobic but “a dumb joke”:
“I did stand-up comedy for years,” she said. “You go in to any open mic in the city where people who are starting cause their bros thought they were funny, they will all tell some version of that joke. I’m offended he makes that much money to tell a joke that dumb, but the outrage seems a little manufactured.”
Williams felt the same, calling it a not-worthy-of-CBS joke that “seemed more like a low-budget digital” network gag.
Guest Rove, however, blasted Colbert’s monologue as “obscene, lewd, and shows how out of touch that part of the media is with the rest of America.”
Rove announced: “I’m going to continue to do what I do with anything Colbert: I am going to refuse to watch the SOB.”
Rove is among Colbert’s most devoted non-fans, dating back to the host’s Comedy Central days when, as conservative gasbag host of The Colbert Report, he tried to interview “Translucent American Karl Rove” about his super PAC, but discovered Rove is a shy guy who doesn’t do television, except any show on Fox News Channel. So he interviewed a ham loaf wearing glasses instead. | – Stephen Colbert has directed plenty of insults at President Trump, but a critic says one delivered during his Late Show monologue on Monday was "disgusting even for him." It's a sentiment being seconded by many. After noting Trump insulted Face the Nation's John Dickerson before abruptly ending an interview with him, Colbert, nearing the end of his monologue, said he felt compelled to throw insults back at Trump, which he then did. "You attract more skinheads than free Rogaine. You have more people marching against you than cancer. You talk like a sign language gorilla who got hit in the head," he said, per Variety. "In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's c--- holster." That final comment, which received a roar from the audience, sparked a #FireColbert hashtag on Twitter with users calling it "homophobic." TMZ also called it "a seriously homophobic punchline," while Karl Rove, appearing on Fox News, said it was "obscene, lewd, and shows how out of touch that part of the media is with the rest of America," per Deadline. Others, including among the LGBT community, maintained the comment was not homophobic. Either way, Callum Borchers at the Washington Post says that "by hitting below the belt," Colbert "became the latest liberal to ignore [Michelle] Obama's 'go high' mantra." Colbert and CBS have not commented. (See what Colbert had to say about Bill O'Reilly.) | [
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For decades, recyclers have received 5 cents for returning empty cans and bottles. Starting Saturday, that increases to a dime.
Have some old soft drink cans lying around waiting to get recycled? Starting Saturday, those cans will be worth a little bit more.
The state is increasing the redemption value of eligible beverage containers covered by the Oregon Bottle Bill starting April 1. Bottles returned after that date will be worth 10 cents, up from the decades-old redemption rate of 5 cents.
According to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which regulates the bottle bill, the increase is aimed at getting more people to return empty cans and bottles. Oregonians once flocked to return cans and bottles at grocery stores, but the state has seen a steady decline in returns over the last several years.
According to the OLCC, only about 64.5 percent of consumers returned their empty bottles and cans to the state in 2015, lower than the 68.26 percent rate documented in 2014.
Under state law, if the return rate for beverage containers falls below 80 percent for two years in a row, the redemption value of those containers must increase to 10 cents per container.
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission announced the change back in July. The state has seen fewer and fewer people returning the bottles and cans over the last several years, though it still doubles the national average.
Eligible containers include water bottles, carbonated soft drinks beer and malt beverages. Starting Jan. 1, 2018, the bill will include tea, coffee, hard cider, fruit juice, kombucha and coconut water containers.
Oregon was the first state in the country to pass a bottle bill in 1971. The bill requires customers to pay 5-cent deposits on soda cans and bottles, which they can reclaim when they recycle the cans with the state, instead of throwing them away.
Only 10 states and Guam have bottle bills. Oregon will become the second state with a 10-cent deposit for all bottles and cans, joining Michigan. Most other states have a 5-cent deposit, through Maine and Vermont have 15-cent deposits for liquor bottles. ||||| FILE - In this July 31, 2015 file photo, Michael Swadberg turns in bottles at a Bottledrop Oregon Redemption Center in Gresham, Ore. Oregon was the first state in the nation to give 5-cent refunds for... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this July 31, 2015 file photo, Michael Swadberg turns in bottles at a Bottledrop Oregon Redemption Center in Gresham, Ore. Oregon was the first state in the nation to give 5-cent refunds for recycling used water bottles and soda cans more than 45 years ago. Now, in an effort to boost recycling,... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this July 31, 2015 file photo, Michael Swadberg turns in bottles at a Bottledrop Oregon Redemption Center in Gresham, Ore. Oregon was the first state in the nation to give 5-cent refunds for recycling used water bottles and soda cans more than 45 years ago. Now, in an effort to boost recycling,... (Associated Press) FILE - In this July 31, 2015 file photo, Michael Swadberg turns in bottles at a Bottledrop Oregon Redemption Center in Gresham, Ore. Oregon was the first state in the nation to give 5-cent refunds for... (Associated Press)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — People in Oregon lined up to turn in their used soda cans and glass bottles Saturday, the first day of a new refund that doubled the amount they could get to 10-cents per can.
Oregon was the first state to give 5-cent refunds for recycling used soda cans and glass bottles more than 45 years ago.
Now with other recycling options commonplace, the state is working to revamp the program by doubling that refund on bottled and canned water, soda, beer and malt beverages — regardless of what their labels say.
Oregon's 1971 Bottle Bill has been replicated in nine other states and the U.S. territory of Guam. Michigan is the only other state with an across-the-board payout as high as 10 cents per bottle, although booze and other large bottles carry a 10-cent payout in California and 15 cents in Maine and Vermont.
The system was a big hit in its early years. But as curbside recycling and pickup services were brought on board two decades later — not to mention inflationary effects on the nickel's value — the rates at which Oregonians cashed in their bottles and cans gradually tumbled from 90 percent averages to less than 70 percent of all bottle sales statewide in 2014 and 2015.
That decline triggered the new 10-cent rate — a provision lawmakers added in 2011.
The higher refund took effect Saturday. Long lines were expected at the 20 bottle redemption sites across the state, and the roughly 2,000 or so grocery stores that participate in the refund program braced for a bustling weekend.
Critics say the higher amount is bad policy during a time of crisis for Oregon's upcoming budget, where jobs and taxes are on the line to help close a $1.6 billion deficit.
Oregonians cashed in slightly more than 1 billion bottles and cans in 2015, roughly two-thirds of total sales that year, according to a 2017 report to the Legislature by the state Liquor and Control Commission, which aids distributors in administering program operations.
That equates to almost $30 million in gross bottle refunds that Oregonians never redeemed, all of which stayed with local and national beverage distributors such as Pepsi and Pendleton Bottle Co., plus others who participate in the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative.
Some of those funds help beverage distributors operate the program. It involves transporting recyclables to processing sites and reimbursing grocery stores, which don't make a profit but are still required to accept empty containers and refund consumers. ||||| Beverage container deposit laws, or bottle bills, are designed to reduce litter and capture bottles, cans, and other containers for recycling. Ten states and Guam have a deposit-refund system for beverage containers. The chart below contains a citation and summary of each state law. Deposit amounts vary from two cents to 15 cents, depending on the type of beverage and volume of the container.
How Do Bottle Bills Work?
When a retailer buys beverages from a distributor, a deposit is paid to the distributor for each container purchased. The consumer pays the deposit to the retailer when buying the beverage, and receives a refund when the empty container is returned to a supermarket or other redemption center. The distributor then reimburses the retailer or redemption center the deposit amount for each container, plus an additional handling fee in most states. Unredeemed deposits are either returned to the state, retained by distributors, or used for program administration.
Please see the Energy and Environment Legislation Tracking Database for more information. | – Ten states have bottle bills, meaning consumers pay a small deposit when they buy drinks in bottles or cans and that deposit is returned to them if they recycle the containers with the state rather than simply throwing them away. Most states pay 5 cents per can or bottle, but starting Saturday, Oregon will become the second state to double that amount to 10 cents, the Hillsboro Tribune reports. (Michigan was the first.) California also pays 10 cents for bottles 24oz or larger, while Maine and Vermont pay 15 cents for liquor bottles. The AP notes that Oregonians who knew the amount was getting bumped higher lined up to do their recycling Saturday. | [
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Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt (second from left) join President Trump during an event in Cincinnati on June 7. Afterward, Pruitt flew by military jet to New York. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has taken at least four noncommercial and military flights since mid-February, costing taxpayers more than $58,000 to fly him to various parts of the country, according to records provided to a congressional oversight committee and obtained by The Washington Post.
“When the administrator travels, he takes commercial flights,” EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said Wednesday, explaining that the one charter flight and three government flights were due to particular circumstances.
The EPA provided documents that outlined how its Office of General Counsel had given legal authorization for each trip. “The administrator, and any Cabinet secretary, is the face of that agency. They’re very outward facing, and we have an obligation to get out throughout the country,” Bowman said.
The most expensive of the four trips came in early June, when Pruitt traveled from Andrews Air Force Base to Cincinnati to join President Trump as he pitched a plan to revamp U.S. infrastructure. From there, the administrator and several staff members continued on a military jet to John F. Kennedy airport in New York to catch a flight to Italy for an international meeting of environmental ministers. The cost of that flight was $36,068.50.
The EPA said in travel documents that the White House had approved the trip and that “no viable commercial flights” would have allowed Pruitt to make his plane to Italy, where he had “scheduled meetings with Vatican officials the next day.” His official calendar listed meetings with the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, and a roundtable discussion with the Italian Court of Appeals.
On July 27, records show, Pruitt and six staff members arranged a flight on a Department of Interior plane from Tulsa to the tiny outpost of Guymon, Okla., at a cost of $14,434.50. The EPA noted that “time constraints” on Pruitt’s schedule wouldn’t allow him to make the 10-hour round-trip drive. The purpose of the trip was to meet with landowners “whose farms have been affected” by a controversial rule regulating water bodies in the United States, according to the agency. Pruitt has initiated a process to withdraw the regulation, known as the Waters of the United States rule.
Bowman said that between 50 and 100 farmers and others from Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas attended the session in Guymon.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) listed details on the noncommercial flights in a Sept. 26 letter to the EPA’s inspector general. Whitehouse, whose office would not comment Wednesday, asked for an investigation into the Guymon trip. Pruitt returned to Oklahoma City around 2 p.m., records show. EPA officials informed Whitehouse that he met there with state officials, though Pruitt’s calendar lists only an “editorial board meeting” and “media interview” at 4 p.m. that day.
Pruitt and three staff members arranged a private air charter on Aug. 4, on a trip from Denver to Durango, Colo. The flight cost $5,719.58. According to the EPA, the commercial flight Pruitt had planned to take “was delayed ultimately for eight hours, which would have caused him to miss a mission critical meeting at Gold King Mine” with Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) and other officials. Hickenlooper offered a seat on his plane, but Bowman said that the governor’s aircraft only had room for Pruitt and that the EPA already had booked the private plane by then. The charter company involved, Mayo Aviation, bills itself as “Colorado’s premier jet charter service.”
That day, Pruitt criticized how two years earlier EPA had mishandled operations at the Gold King Mine, where the agency inadvertently triggered a spill that polluted rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. “The previous administration failed those who counted on them to protect the environment,” he said in a statement, vowing to reconsider claims for damages the government previously had denied.
Finally, on Aug. 9, Pruitt and two staffers traveling in North Dakota flew on a state-owned plane to an event in Grand Forks. The flight cost the EPA $2,144.40. “The Governor of the State of North Dakota offered seats on the state-owned plane to transport the Administrator to this event,” the agency noted in its justification for the trip, which involved touring the University of North Dakota’s Environmental Research Center. “There is no government rate established for this route.”
The records also indicate that Pruitt, along with a member of his security detail, flies either in business or first class when those seats are available on commercial flights. Multiple EPA travel documents state that Pruitt “is entitled to business class accommodation due to security concerns.”
Bowman said that while Pruitt flies in such classes when that is an option, he has also flown on multiple occasions in coach.
Senator Thomas R. Carper (Del.), the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, questioned in a statement why Pruitt would rely on noncommercial aircraft to travel for his work.
“Most people can’t lease a plane to fly around,” Carper said. “I think as a public servant, you have to try to set some sort of example.”
Last month, the EPA’s inspector general announced that it would launch a preliminary probe into Pruitt’s travels to Oklahoma. The internal watchdog said the inquiry was triggered by “congressional requests and a hotline complaint, all of which expressed concerns about Administrator Pruitt’s travel — primarily his frequent travel to and from his home state of Oklahoma at taxpayer expense.”
The probe was triggered in part by the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit group that found through public records requests that Pruitt had spent nearly half of the days in March, April and May in Oklahoma.
“Administrator Pruitt’s extensive travel to Oklahoma, and expensive travel within Oklahoma, suggests disproportionate attention to his home state,” Whitehouse wrote, adding that the inspector general should add the Guymon visit to his probe and examine why six staffers accompanied Pruitt there. “As part of your review, I further request you examine whether this trip, and the size and composition of his entourage, is consistent with the travel expenditures of prior EPA administrators.”
Read more:
EPA spending almost $25,000 to install a secure phone booth for Scott Pruitt
At EPA, guarding the chief pulls agents from pursuing environmental crimes
EPA chief Pruitt met with many corporate execs. Then he made decisions in their favor. ||||| Washington (CNN) The Environmental Protection Agency is beefing up security measures surrounding Administrator Scott Pruitt to an unprecedented level, CNN has learned, as members of Congress are asking if the costs are a "potential waste or abuse of taxpayer dollars."
Pruitt's security detail is in the process of expanding by hiring a dozen more agents, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, as the number of threats against the agency leader increase. The incoming agents will grow the team that works in shifts to provide him around-the-clock protection, something unheard of for Pruitt's predecessors.
Salaries alone for the full team will cost at least $2 million per year, according to figures compiled by CNN from public documents. The numbers do not include costs such as training, equipment, and travel.
The spending increase comes as the Trump administration has laid out plans to cut the agency's budget by 30%, including major cuts to the agency's enforcement work and staffing as well as the elimination of some programs. Pruitt told Congress in June that the EPA "can fulfill the mission of our agency with a trimmed budget, with proper leadership and management."
Pruitt's travel spending has also come under scrutiny following news reports outlining frequent trips to his home state of Oklahoma, as well as several flights on charter and government aircraft.
EPA administrators, whose public profiles and security arrangements are typically smaller than other members of the Cabinet, haven't had anywhere close to the level of security being assembled for Pruitt. (CNN has withheld specific details about the size of Pruitt's security detail.)
No previous EPA chief has ever received a 24/7 security detail, the agency's inspector general said. Two prior administrators were guarded primarily when traveling.
The EPA's inspector general's office, which investigates threats, says Pruitt has received more death threats than any of his predecessors. The office has launched more than 70 investigations into threats against Pruitt and others, the agency said.
"We have at least four times -- four to five times the number of threats against Mr. Pruitt than we had against Ms. McCarthy," said assistant inspector general Patrick Sullivan , referring to Gina McCarthy, who held the post under President Barack Obama.
"The EPA is a lightning rod. We get threats from both sides of the spectrum," Sullivan added. "Some people believe the EPA is not doing enough to enforce environmental laws, and they're upset about that. Other people think the EPA is doing too much, vis-à-vis enforcing environmental laws and they're upset about that."
Asked for comment on this story, EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said, "We decline to comment on security measures taken months ago to protect the administrator."
JUST WATCHED EPA moving agents to provide 24/7 security Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH EPA moving agents to provide 24/7 security 01:29
New security and a soundproof room for Pruitt's office
Security enhancements are also being added to Pruitt's third-floor office inside the EPA's Washington headquarters, where sources have previously described restricted access to even the hallway near his office.
The agency recently made arrangements with a security vendor to have "two access control card readers" installed for his office, according to federal contracting documents reviewed by CNN. That security system, including an additional access card reader for the security office and an alarm in the office to alert agents, costs $15,780, the documents showed.
Pruitt also purchased a secure soundproof communications booth for his office at a cost of nearly $25,000, purchasing records show, even though EPA already has a similar room elsewhere in the building.
The company that builds the booth told The Washington Post the EPA was concerned that the box not be vulnerable to hacking or eavesdropping.
EPA officials have considered using biometric security system, such as a fingerprint scanner, a source with knowledge told CNN. But it was not clear if a biometric system had been installed or continues to be under consideration.
Access to Pruitt's office appears to be a longstanding concern. Publicly released schedules show that, starting in early April, an aide to Pruitt was responsible for opening his office at 7 a.m. on weekdays for cleaning staff, rather than allowing them to enter on their own.
In the hallway around Pruitt's office, security employees check government IDs against a list of employees who are approved for access, according to individuals who work at and have visited the building.
It's unclear if Pruitt and his staff are guarding against outside threats, internal leakers, or both. EPA sources have described Pruitt as distrustful of career staffers at the agency.
Former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who served under President George W. Bush, told CNN that cleaning staff access to her office had not been a concern under her tenure.
"I guess they entered once I was gone," she said. "There were no restrictions or anyone overseeing them while they were in my office."
JUST WATCHED EPA changes are 'grave danger,' says former chief Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH EPA changes are 'grave danger,' says former chief 06:22
Security jobs pay in six-figures
The positions on Pruitt's detail pay between $103,000 and nearly $162,000, according to the job posting and a source familiar with the positions, who described how the role is called criminal investigator or agent, and said it qualifies for a 25% bonus paid to federal law enforcement officers, who work unusual hours.
The position of criminal investigator at the EPA that usually involves investigating environmental crimes involving pollution or waste dumping.
But an online posting for the jobs described the responsibilities as including "assisting with conducting of advances, motorcade logistics, physical security, site security, and conducting or coordinating investigations of individuals or groups who may present a physical danger to the protectee."
In addition, the cost of the team goes well beyond their salaries. The number of government vehicles used by Pruitt's security detail will also grow, allowing each agent his or her own vehicle.
Democratic members of Congress have expressed concerns with the costs of his protection.
Reps. Peter DeFazio and Grace Napolitano asked the EPA inspector general to investigate their concerns that "taxpayer funds are being misused." Their letter states Pruitt's security costs "during his first quarter as EPA administrator is nearly double what the two previous administrators spent on security over that same timeframe." That was before the new agents were hired.
Pruitt's spending on travel, security and the soundproof room is "symptomatic of a troubling culture that appears to have swept through this administration," the Democrats wrote.
"This culture, which is reflected in travel and lifestyle choices from the President on down, seems to embolden senior, politically appointed officials of the Trump administration to undertake lavish spending of taxpayer dollars for their sole and personal benefit, and not for the benefit of Americans paying the tab," they added.
Sen. Tom Udall has asked the EPA for additional information about the detail, including an accounting of costs and whether the increased security measures may be pulling resources away from enforcement programs.
Previous administrators have not requested nor received the same level of protection.
McCarthy was driven to and from work by an agent, according to a person familiar with McCarthy's security arrangements while in office. Her security detail included a total of five agents, and typically three agents would accompany her on official travel outside of the DC area.
McCarthy had an open-door policy for EPA staffers, and she would leave her office door unlocked when leaving for the night.
Whitman, who served both before and after the September 11 terror attacks, did not use a security detail on a daily basis. Agents accompanied her only when traveling, and she also said she did not lock her office door. Whitman walked by herself to work. ||||| For Immediate Release: October 4, 2017
Contact:Jen Adler (DeFazio), 202-225-4472
Washington, D.C. -- Today, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment Grace Napolitano (D-CA) sent a letter to the Inspector General of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Arthur A. Elkins, Jr. requesting an immediate investigation into the potential waste or abuse of taxpayer dollars by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. Specifically, DeFazio and Napolitano point to Pruitt’s hiring of an unprecedented, round-the-clock security detail for $832,735.40 and the construction of a soundproof phone booth in the Administrator’s personal office at a cost of $24,570.00.
“Individually, we are concerned that each of these expenditures is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Taken together, however, they are symptomatic of a troubling culture that appears to have swept through this administration since President Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017. This culture, which is reflected in travel and lifestyle choices from the President on down, seems to embolden senior, politically appointed officials of the Trump administration to undertake lavish spending of taxpayer dollars for their sole and personal benefit, and not for the benefit of the Americans paying the tab,” the Members wrote.
They cite a July 5, 2017 article by Energy & Environment News, based on documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, which found that EPA has spent $617,566.71 for Administrator Pruitt’s security detail and $215,168.69 on travel costs for the detail. In total, the $832,735.40 spent on Administrator Pruitt’s security detail during his first quarter as EPA Administrator is nearly double what the two previous Administrators spent on security over that same timeframe; yet, there is no apparent security threat against the Administrator to justify such a security detail or expenditures.
In addition, a September 26, 2017 The Washington Post article found that EPA is spending $24,570 to construct a “secure, soundproof communications booth in the office of Administrator Scott Pruitt.” A secure room such as this, typically called a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), allows someone to communicate privately and without a breach in security. The EPA currently possesses a SCIF within the EPA building where officials with the proper clearances can go to share classified information. Again, there has been no public justification for the construction of a duplicate secure communications facility within EPA, and certainly no justification for one for the EPA Administrator’s sole-use within his personal office.
The full letter is below.
October 4, 2017
The Honorable Arthur A. Elkins, Jr.
Inspector General
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Inspector General Elkins:
We write to request that you conduct an audit of the recent expenditures made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for Administrator Pruitt’s security that we believe constitute potential waste or abuse of taxpayer dollars. Similar to Administrator Pruitt’s recent travels that precipitated your ongoing audit of EPA’s travel policies, recent news stories have detailed the expenditure of more than $850,000 for Administrator Pruitt’s security needs. These expenditures include Administrator Pruitt’s hiring of an unprecedented, round-the-clock security detail for $832,735.40 and the construction of a soundproof security booth in the Administrator’s personal office at a cost of $24,570.00.
Individually, we are concerned that each of these expenditures is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Taken together, however, they are symptomatic of a troubling culture that appears to have swept through this administration since President Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017. This culture, which is reflected in travel and lifestyle choices from the President on down, seems to embolden senior, politically appointed officials of the Trump administration to undertake lavish spending of taxpayer dollars for their sole and personal benefit, and not for the benefit of the Americans paying the tab.
A July 5, 2017 article by Energy & Environment News based on documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act found that EPA has spent $617,566.71 for Administrator Pruitt’s security detail and $215,168.69 on travel costs for the detail. In total, the $832,735.40 spent on Administrator Pruitt’s security detail during his first quarter as EPA Administrator is nearly double what the two previous Administrators spent on security over that same timeframe; yet, there is no apparent security threat against the Administrator to justify such a security detail or expenditures. According to an EPA budget document, Administrator Pruitt requested an additional 10 full-time equivalent employees to provide himself with round-the-clock security.
In addition, a September 26, 2017 article in The Washington Post found that EPA is spending $24,570 to construct a “secure, soundproof communications booth in the office of Administrator Scott Pruitt.” A secure room such as this, typically called a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), allows someone to communicate privately and without a breach in security. What makes this expenditure particularly appalling is that EPA currently possesses a SCIF within the EPA building where officials with the proper clearances can go to share classified information. Again, there has been no public justification for the construction of a duplicate secure communications facility within EPA, and certainly no justification for one for the EPA Administrator’s sole-use within his personal office.
We have serious concerns that taxpayer funds are being misused in these instances. We are particularly troubled that these expenditures come at a time when President Trump proposes deep budget cuts for EPA, including an almost 25 percent reduction in the budget for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, the office that enforces the Nation’s environmental laws.
To that end, we request that you conduct a review of Administrator Pruitt’s security expenditures detailed in this letter to evaluate:
Are there any limits on the discretionary spending decisions of the Administrator to make purchases for his direct and personal benefit? What internal EPA policies, procedures, and oversight controls are in place to ensure that such funds are not misused or misappropriated?
Is the EPA Administrator legally justified in diverting agency staff (including personnel and FTEs salary) from EPA’s Office of Enforcement personnel to the Administrator’s private security detail? Were the alleged threats to the Administrator of sufficient urgency and degree to reasonably justify the size and scope of protection provided to the Administrator? Would the decision to transfer personnel from an already understaffed enforcement office have been required in the absence of the Trump administration’s January 2017 hiring freeze on new Federal employees? Has EPA reviewed whether current threats justify continuing the current size and scope of the protection provided to the Administrator?
What was the justification for the Administrator to purchase a secure, soundproof communications booth to be located in the immediate Office of the Administrator, and does this justification warrant the expenditure of close to $25,000 for such technology when similar facilities are located in the EPA building? What internal protocols are in place to ensure that this new facility is not for the sole use and benefit of the Administrator?
Did EPA comply with all agency policies, procedures, and oversight controls in procuring round-the-clock security for the Administrator and soliciting a contract for construction of Administrator Pruitt’s secure, soundproof communications booth?
How can EPA strengthen its policies, procedures, and oversight controls to prevent excessive expenditures by the Office of the Administrator?
We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter. If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact the staff at the Subcommittee on Water Resources at (202) 225-0060.
Sincerely,
PETER DeFAZIO GRACE NAPOLITANO
Ranking Member Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Water Resources &
Environment
cc: The Honorable Scott Pruitt, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
[1] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Inspector General, Audit of EPA’s Adherence to Policies, Procedures and Oversight Controls Pertaining to the Administrator’s Travel (August 28, 2017) (OA-FY17-0382).
2 Bogardus, Kevin, “Big spike in security spending for Pruitt”, Published July 5, 2017, https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060056958
3 Brady, Dennis, “EPA spending almost $25,000 to install a secure phone booth for Scott Pruitt”, Published September 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/26/epa-spending-almost-25000-to-install-a-secure-phone-booth-for-scott-pruitt/?utm_term=.f032d3bc85df
4 See EPA FY 2018 President’s Budget: Major Policy and Final Resource Decisions (https://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/04/04/document_cw_02.pdf).
5 See supra note 3.
--30-- |||||
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt will have a soundproof communication booth. (Susan Walsh/AP)
The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $25,000 to construct a secure, soundproof communications booth in the office of Administrator Scott Pruitt, according to government contracting records.
The agency signed a $24,570 contract earlier this summer with Acoustical Solutions, a Richmond-based company, for a “privacy booth for the administrator.” The company sells and installs an array of sound-dampening and privacy products, from ceiling baffles to full-scale enclosures like the one purchased by the EPA. The project’s scheduled completion date is Oct. 9, according to the contract.
Typically, such soundproof booths are used to conduct hearing tests. But the EPA sought a customized version — one that eventually would cost several times more than a typical model — that Pruitt can use to communicate privately.
“They had a lot of modifications,” said Steve Snider, an acoustic sales consultant with the company, who worked with the agency on its order earlier this summer. “Their main goal was they wanted essentially a secure phone booth that couldn’t be breached from a data point of view or from someone standing outside eavesdropping.”
[EPA chief Pruitt met with many corporate execs. Then he made decisions in their favor.]
No previous EPA administrators had such a setup.
“What you are referring to is a secured communication area in the administrator’s office so secured calls can be received and made,” EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said in a statement. “Federal agencies need to have one of these so that secured communications, not subject to hacking from the outside, can be held. It’s called a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). This is something which a number, if not all, Cabinet offices have and EPA needs to have updated.”
But according to former agency employees, the EPA has long maintained a SCIF on a separate floor from the administrator’s office, where officials with proper clearances can go to share information classified as secret. The agency did not specify what aspects of that facility were outdated, or whether the unit inside Pruitt’s office would meet the physical and technical specifications a SCIF generally is required to have.
In recent months, Pruitt and his top deputies have taken other steps aimed at heightening security. Some EPA employees have been asked to surrender their cellphones and other digital devices before meetings in the administrator’s office, in much the same way visitors do when visiting the president in the Oval Office.
A senior administration official, who asked not to be identified to discuss internal procedures, said that practice was instituted to ensure that employees are focused on the discussion during meetings. However, Bowman said that “if anyone was asked not to bring [phones], it was merely a professional courtesy — it is by no means a policy or directive.”
[Scott Pruitt says it’s not the time to talk climate change. For him, it never is.]
Pruitt also has shied away from using email at EPA, often preferring to deliver instructions verbally and hold face-to-face meetings. The shift stems in part from public disclosure by the New York Times in 2014 — following an open-records request of emails — of how Pruitt and other attorneys general had worked closely with the oil and gas industry to oppose Obama administration environmental safeguards.
Thousands more pages of emails from his time as Oklahoma’s attorney general, released earlier this year after the Center for Media and Democracy sued for them to be made public, detailed an often-chummy relationship between Pruitt’s office and Devon Energy, a major oil and gas exploration and production company based in Oklahoma City.
In addition, Pruitt has largely avoided the agency’s decades-long practice of publicly posting the administrator’s appointment calendars. Only last week were details on months worth of meetings released after media outlets filed repeated Freedom of Information Act requests for that information; they showed he has met regularly with corporate executives from the automobile, mining and fossil fuel industries — in several instances shortly before making decisions favorable to those interest groups.
Pruitt, who has become a polarizing and high-profile figure as he seeks to roll back Obama-era policies and shrink the EPA’s footprint, has essentially tripled the personal security detail that served past administrators. The detail now includes about 18 people to cover round-the-clock needs and his frequent travel schedule. Such 24/7 coverage has prompted officials to rotate in special agents from around the country who otherwise would be investigating environmental crimes.
Acoustical Solutions has done work for various government entities over the years, including building soundproof wall barriers at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and installing sound-damping wall and ceiling panels at the State Department, Agriculture Department and other agencies. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department turned to the company to provide a “sound enclosure” at the U.S. Mint in Denver.
Snider said the company also has installed numerous “audiometric” booths in other government agencies, such as Veterans Affairs, but those almost always are used for hearing tests. The EPA’s request was something different altogether, he said.
“This is a first,” he said. “They are definitely using this booth in a way that wasn’t necessarily intended. … [But] for the criteria they had, it fit this product.”
Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report.
Read more:
At EPA, guarding the chief pulls agents from pursuing environmental crimes
EPA under Trump shrinks to near Reagan-era staffing levels
EPA will reconsider Obama-era safeguards on coal waste
Thousands of emails detail EPA head’s close ties to fossil fuel industry ||||| The Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of expanding its security fleet for Administrator Scott Pruitt with the hiring of an additional 12 officers, which moves the total number of agents guarding Pruitt to 30, CNN reported Monday.
The move will cost the department an additional $2 million a year, not including training, equipment or travel, according to CNN. No previous EPA chief has received this level of around-the-clock protection, the department’s inspector general told CNN, but Pruitt has reportedly received more death threats than any of his predecessors.
The IG office has investigated 70-plus threats against the EPA chief since he came into office.
“The EPA is a lightning rod. We get threats from both sides of the spectrum,” assistant inspector general Patrick Sullivan told CNN. “Some people believe the EPA is not doing enough to enforce environmental laws, and they’re upset about that. Other people think the EPA is doing too much, vis-à-vis enforcing environmental laws and they’re upset about that.”
Last month, The Washington Post reported that the EPA spent nearly $25,000 on building Pruitt a sound-proof “privacy booth” for secure phone calls.
Pruitt already had an unprecedented number of security officers before CNN learned of the new hires. The department reportedly had to pull officers who typically investigate environmental crimes to his security detail.
The latest security spending increase comes as the agency has announced plans to cut its budget by 30 percent. Like several other members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, Pruitt’s spending on travel has recently come under scrutiny as well because of his frequent trips back home to Oklahoma and his use of charter planes for official travel. | – Scott Pruitt's travel, and how he's been traveling, has already come under fire. Now the EPA chief is under the microscope for what CNN calls an "unprecedented level" of protection. That includes the reported hiring of 12 new security officers, which TPM notes would bring the total number keeping tabs on Pruitt to 30. Using public documents, CNN estimates the cost for the entire security team—not counting training, travel, or gear—at $2 million per year, prompting some members of Congress to ask if this is a "potential waste or abuse of taxpayer dollars." The reason, especially considering no other EPA head has ever received 24/7 protection: The EPA is a "lightning rod," and Pruitt is paying the price for it, per the agency's inspector general's office, which says it's investigated more than 70 threats against Pruitt so far. That's "at least … four to five times the number of threats against Mr. Pruitt" than Gina McCarthy, his predecessor under Obama, assistant IG Patrick Sullivan says. Sullivan adds the threats are coming from "both sides of the spectrum": those who think the EPA isn't doing enough to protect the environment, and those who think the agency is overregulating. Pruitt is also said to be getting "security enhancements" at his DC office, including card readers to control access and a soundproof phone booth—which CNN says together will cost more than $40,000, per purchasing and contracting documents. Two Democratic Congress members, Peter DeFazio and Grace Napolitano, have crafted a letter to the IG asking for a look at this spending, which they say is "symptomatic of a troubling culture that appears to have swept through this administration … from the President on down." | [
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A farm manager vows to take swift action after Humane Society cameras reveal pig abuse. KUSA's Nick McGurk reports.
Officials are investigating allegations of animal abuse at a Wyoming pig farm after undercover video showed workers kicking pigs and tossing and twirling piglets — incidents that even a co-owner of the farm said looked like major abuses that warranted firings.
The Wyoming Livestock Board is investigating Wyoming Premium Farms in Wheatland, Wyo., and Doug DeRouchey, a co-owner and manager of the farm, told NBC affiliate 9NEWS.com that an investigation was under way after the Humane Society of the United States released the video on Tuesday.
"There's probably possible major abuse," he said, "and that's a termination."
"We will not tolerate abuse," DeRouchey added. "It's just not tolerable. And we've had isolated incidents in the past — and we've terminated the people."
Steve Keigley, sheriff for Platte County, where the farm is located, told msnbc.com that an investigation is under way and being led by the livestock board. The Humane Society provided "quite a bit of documentation," he said, adding that any charges would probably amount to a "high misdemeanor" with a maximum of several months in county jail and a fine.
Humane Society of the United States A Wyoming Premium Farms worker twirls a piglet in a screen grab from the video taken by a Humane Society activist.
A Colorado State University animal sciences professor who reviewed the video blamed management. "That was just poorly supervised employees," Temple Grandin told 9NEWS.com. "That's the kind of stuff that goes on with bad management. I've seen it over and over again."
The Humane Society said the video was shot over 27 days last month by someone who worked there and alleged the farm was a supplier to Tyson Foods.
The food conglomerate denied a direct connection, saying in a statement that:
"Tyson Foods does not buy any of the hogs raised on this farm for our pork processing plants. "We do have a small, but separate hog buying business that buys aged sows; however, these animals are subsequently sold to other companies and are not used in Tyson's pork processing business. "We've seen the video and we are appalled by the apparent mistreatment of the animals. We do not condone for any reason this kind of mistreatment of animals shown in the video."
In response, the Humane Society noted that Tyson did not deny purchasing pigs via a company it owns. The group also presented a farm statement that shows older sows were sold to that Tyson affiliate as recently as last month.
"Despite Tyson's misleading claims, the connection between this investigation and Tyson Foods is crystal clear," Matt Prescott, food policy director for the group, told msnbc.com.
The video also shows hundreds of female pigs confined to "gestation crates" that prohibit them from turning around. Those are legal, but the Humane Society has lobbied food companies and supermarkets to stop buying pork from farms that use that system.
McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King have said they will stop buying from such farms, the Humane Society noted, and Safeway on Monday said it would do the same. Smithfield Foods and Hormel plan to phase out the crates within five years, the group added.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook ||||| An employee is seen kicking a pig in the video (credit: Humane Society of the United States)
WHEATLAND, Wyo. (CBS4) – Wyoming state livestock officials are looking into allegations of animal abuse at pig farm in Wheatland.
The Humane Society of the United States released undercover video they claim was taken at the farm.
The group says the video was taken last month at Wyoming Premium Farms after they received a tip from a whistleblower and sent in an undercover employee. Workers are seen pushing pigs around and one woman even bounces on the back of another. The group also says some of the pigs were abused so badly they died.
The video also shows pigs living in confined gestational cages, unable to move.
Other video shows piglets being tossed around. The video may be disturbing to watch for some people.
The Humane Society says the pig breeding facility is a pork supplier for Tyson Foods.
“The level of abuse was ruthless. As you can see in the video, workers were vicious with animals; punching them in the face, kicking them, cursing at them, jumping up and down on their broken limbs,” Paul Shapiro with the Humane Society of the United States said. “This is the type of abuse that is so extreme that most people would be appalled to bear witness to it.”
The group is demanding changes and wants charges filed.
“I would anticipate there might be charges,” said Jimmy Siler, an investigator with the Wyoming Livestock Board. “I hope we’d have some answers in the next couple days. … It was probably not proper handling of the animals. If I’m a producer I wouldn’t want my workers handling my product that way.”
So far CBS4 has been unable to speak directly with representatives of Wyoming Premium Farms or from Tyson Foods, but both groups released the following statements on Tuesday.
The statement from Wyoming Premium Farms is as follows:
The video of a Wyoming Premium Farms sow barn posted online this morning by HSUS shows some practices that are not and will not be tolerated. The owners and managers of the farm are investigating the incidents shown in the video and wish to assure everyone we will take action to correct all problems and to deal appropriately with any employees that were involved.
I was first made aware of the situation when I was contacted on Friday by the Wyoming Livestock Board regarding a video the board had received. On Monday, I drove to Cheyenne to meet with the board and to view a video from the HSUS. Evidently, HSUS had placed an undercover spy in our workforce.
I was told that the undercover spy had pointed out certain items that she had noticed while working there to different people at the farm. However, never once did she express any concerns to me, the general manager and the person responsible for hiring her.
The video I saw at the Wyoming Livestock Board yesterday was troubling, but it did not contain some of the disturbing scenes shown in the video HSUS put online this morning. While still sitting at the Livestock Board’s conference table on Monday, I called the farm manager and asked him if he was made aware of comments from the employee we knew as Whitney Warrington. He said because she was new she always seemed to have new-person type of questions. He said he could not recall everything she said, but added he definitely would have remembered if anything about animal abuse had come out of her mouth.
After my meeting in Cheyenne, I contacted the farm managers and instructed them to conduct a meeting immediately to once again stress with our workers the importance of animal welfare. I then contacted our consulting veterinarian and asked him to join me for an unannounced herd visit. That visit occurred this morning. Our veterinarian also suggested we retain an independent 3rd party to review everything we do on our farm to give us comments and recommendations. We are doing that.
I take these allegations seriously. I am disappointed I did not hear them directly from her while she was working on our farm so we could have addressed any concerns immediately. We take the pork industry’s We Care initiative seriously and are committed to the well-being of all our animals and to the safety of our workers.
Once again, we will swiftly address any problems that are identified.
Doug DeRouchey
The statement from Tyson Foods is as follows:
Contrary to the impression left by HSUS, there is no connection between this Wyoming farm and the pork that we process. Tyson Foods does not buy any of the hogs raised on this farm for our pork processing plants.
We do have a small, but separate hog buying business that buys aged sows; however, these animals are subsequently sold to other companies and are not used in Tyson’s pork processing business.
We’ve seen the video and we are appalled by the apparent mistreatment of the animals. We do not condone for any reason this kind of mistreatment of animals shown in the video.
Virtually all of the hogs Tyson buys for our processing plants come from thousands of independent farm families who use both individual and group housing. We require all hog farmers who supply us to be certified in the pork industry’s Pork Quality Assurance Plus program, which incorporates rigid animal well-being standards and is part of the industry’s ‘We Care’ responsible pork initiative. We validate enrollment and audit conformance to these standards. Farms that do not conform will be eliminated from our supply chain.
For information on the pork industry’s ‘We Care’ responsible pork initiative, go to porkcares.com. ||||| Piglets are haphazardly swung in circles, sows are beaten, and animals squirm with untreated abscesses in new footage alleging animal abuse at a Wyoming pig breeding facility.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), an animal advocacy group, hired an undercover investigator to spend the month of April 2012 working at a Wyoming Premium Farms facility in Wheatland, Wyo.
HSUS identified one pig in its video on whose back, it said, a worker sat and bounced even though the pig had a broken leg. Other animals suffered from rectal and uterine prolapses.
Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of HSUS, described on a press call how one pig was forced to give birth on a set date. "The worker intended to stick his arm in the animal's uterus to pull out the piglets, but instead went into her anus and caused the prolapse there. This animal lived another 11 days in this condition," he said.
According to HSUS, the farm is owned by Denver-based Itoham America Inc., which HSUS says sells to Tyson Foods, the world’s second largest meat processor. Itoham America could not be reached by phone.
Last week, HSUS said, it notified local authorities of the alleged abuse and urged the Platte County sheriff’s office to pursue criminal charges. The sheriff's office did not return HuffPost's request for comment, but Pacelle said he was "very pleased with their interest and their degree of scrutiny."
Wyoming Premium Farms' website states that its facilities "consist of a breeding farm housing over 5,000 sows, a nursery and two finishers with capacity to finish all pigs, feedmill to mix all feed required and a corporate office." The farms were established in 1995 "with the purpose of producing healthy pigs in a clean environment." The company did not return requests for comment.
Tyson Foods spokesman Worth Sparkman emailed a statement to HuffPost, saying the company was "appalled" by the video and denying any connection between the Wyoming farm and the pork processed by Tyson. "Tyson Foods does not buy any of the hogs raised on this farm for our pork processing plants. We do have a small, but separate hog buying business that buys aged sows; however, these animals are subsequently sold to other companies and are not used in Tyson’s pork processing business," the statement said.
Sparkman clarified in a follow-up email: "A company that we own has purchased hogs from the farm. We will not purchase from this farm until we've had a chance to investigate."
The original statement also says that all hog suppliers selling to Tyson must be certified by the pork industry’s Pork Quality Assurance Plus program, adding, "Farms that do not conform will be eliminated from our supply chain."
In April, HSUS filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, arguing that the National Pork Producers Council's public descriptions of that quality assurance program make false claims and constitute deceptive advertising.
The National Pork Producers Council hit back on its website, saying, "The FTC complaint is the latest attack by animal-rights activists on America's hog farmers, an assault that seems obviously in response to the U.S. pork industry's strident opposition to congressional legislation that would allow federal bureaucrats to tell farmers how to raise and care for their animals."
To address both the specific alleged abuse at Wyoming Premium Farms and broader issues of animal welfare, Pacelle said, the pork industry should abandon the use of gestation crates -- small enclosures in which sows are kept during pregnancy -- and local law enforcement should vigorously enforce anti-cruelty laws.
McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Safeway and Burger King have all declared a goal of ridding gestation crates from their supply chains. Smithfield Foods, Hormel and Cargill are also making efforts to lower the number of company-owned operations using the devices. According to HSUS, eight U.S. states have passed laws to phase out gestation crates.
More generally, no federal law protects farm animals from cruelty while they are on farms, and some states exempt farm animals from their anti-cruelty laws. HSUS Chief Counsel Jonathan Lovvorn told HuffPost that Wyoming's law falls somewhere in the middle among anti-cruelty statutes. "The state's anti-cruelty statute applies to all animals, which is why the HSUS has asked local law enforcement to prosecute animal cruelty," he said, adding, "What we've seen on this video is animal cruelty by virtually any state's definition -- the intentional kicking, throwing, stomping, beating of animals for the purpose of inflicting pain and suffering."
Earlier this year, HSUS filed complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the FTC after another undercover investigation suggested mistreatment at a pig breeding facility linked to Walmart. In an unrelated incident this year, Whole Foods severed ties with a hatchery after Compassion Over Killing's undercover video showed alleged abuse, although the company wouldn't say whether its decision was based on the abuse allegations.
The use of such videos to reveal abuses at factory farms is threatened. In March, Iowa made it illegal to gain access to a farm facility under false pretenses, and other states have considered similar laws.
"If those laws existed [in Wyoming]," Lovvorn argued, "the cruelty at this facility would have continued forever with no public knowledge, no law enforcement and no remedial action." | – Wyoming officials are investigating alleged animal abuse at a pig farm after a secret video of conditions there was released. In the footage, workers are seen punching, kicking, and jumping on pigs and tossing piglets, reports CBS in Denver. Other pigs have untreated abscesses, notes the Huffington Post. The footage was recorded last month by a spy sent in by the Humane Society, which had been alerted by a whistleblower. “I would anticipate there might be charges,” said an investigator from the Wyoming Livestock Board. A statement from Wyoming Premium Farms said it was investigating the incident and that abuses seen in the video would not be tolerated. "That was just poorly supervised employees," an animal sciences professor who viewed the video told MSNBC. "That's the kind of stuff that goes on with bad management. I've seen it over and over again." Click for more on the story. | [
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Owen Sweeney / AP ID: 10086066
Singer Dolly Parton is donating to families who lost their homes in the wildfire that ripped through the Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains this week.
Parton, whose theme park Dollywood was evacuated during the fire, said her foundation will donate $1,000 a month for six months to the families whose homes were destroyed.
“We want to provide a hand up to those families who have lost everything in the fires,” Parton said in a statement. “To aid in their recovery effort, the Dollywood Foundation will provide $1,000 a month to all of those families who lost their homes in the fires for six months so that they can get back on their feet.”
At least seven people were killed and hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed in the more than 15,000-acre blaze, which started Monday night. Thousands of residents and tourists were evacuated as flames descended on downtown Gatlinburg, and on Wednesday, some people returned to discover they had lost everything.
Brian Blanco / Getty Images ID: 10086071
More information was expected on Friday, and Parton said the foundations would also be accepting donations from the public.
Parton’s childhood in the region has been a frequent part of her work, including the song “In My Tennessee Mountain Home.” In addition to Dollywood, she operates a resort and dinner theaters in the Gatlinburg area.
“I have always believed that charity begins at home,” Parton said. ||||| Gatlinburg, Tennessee (CNN) Alice Hagler's family hoped she'd made it out of her Gatlinburg cabin -- that maybe a neighbor had rescued her after she'd called her son to tell him that the fire roaring into the area had started burning her home.
It wasn't to be. The family was heartbroken Wednesday evening when, they say, officials told them the 70-year-old Hagler had been found dead -- one of at least 11 people killed in a wildfire that spread from Great Smoky Mountains National Park into the eastern Tennessee resort city this week.
Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters on Thursday afternoon reported the three most recent fatalities.
Firefighters and other responders are extending their search into previously inaccessible burned areas as several families wait for news about relatives they say have been missing since the fire blew into inhabited areas Monday.
One of Hagler's sons, Lyle Wood, says the family is mourning her and trying to figure out the next steps for his brother, who lived with Hagler but wasn't home when the fire came.
JUST WATCHED Fire evacuee: It was a firestorm Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Fire evacuee: It was a firestorm 01:44
"The last phone call she made to my brother was the fact that she was really scared and frantic because the house was actually on fire at that point," Wood told CNN's "New Day" on Thursday. "Our hope was that maybe she'd be one of the ones that was found safe.
"It's a hard thing ... She was an amazing woman who loved a lot."
Rescue chances dimming
The blazes scorched thousands of acres in the resort-heavy area, burning more than 700 buildings in Sevier County, including about 300 in Gatlinburg alone, and injuring at least 74 people, officials said.
Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast An aerial photo shows Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on Tuesday, November 29 -- a day after wildfires hit the city. Gatlinburg city officials declared mandatory evacuations in several areas as firefighters battled at least 14 fires in and around the city. More than 30 large wildfires have left a trail of destruction through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, according to the US Forest Service. Hide Caption 1 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Polo Gutierrez climbs onto the foundation of a destroyed home to try to see if his apartment building is still standing in Gatlinburg on November 29. Gutierrez fled his apartment with other residents as fires approached the previous night. Hide Caption 2 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A destroyed structure and vehicle are seen near Gatlinburg on November 29. Hide Caption 3 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast An Alamo Steakhouse was one of the Gatlinburg businesses destroyed by fire. Hide Caption 4 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Trevor Cates inspects the damage to the Banner Missionary Baptist Church in Gatlinburg on November 29. Hide Caption 5 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Two dormitories at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts were damaged from the wildfires that flared near Gatlinburg on November 29. Hide Caption 6 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Photographer Bruce McCamish captured this image of the fires burning behind the Dollywood Dreammore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Hide Caption 7 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Fires burn on both sides of Highway 441 between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge on Monday, November 28. Hide Caption 8 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Thick smoke looms in Gatlinburg on November 28. Hide Caption 9 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Officials from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park reported the closing of roads and several trails near Gatlinburg on November 28. Hide Caption 10 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighter Layne Whitney checks the treetops while working to hold the northern head of the Rock Mountain Fire, north of Tate City, Georgia, on Tuesday, November 22. Hide Caption 11 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Flames from the Rock Mountain Fire silhouette a weather vane north of Clayton, Georgia, on Monday, November 21. Hide Caption 12 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Fire crews bring down a dead tree along Highway 9 near the community of Bat Cave, North Carolina, on Friday, November 18. Hide Caption 13 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A helicopter picks up water from Thrasher Lake to help battle a wildfire in Amherst County, Virginia, on November 21. Hide Caption 14 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Eric Willey looks on from the porch of his home as a helicopter fights a wildfire in Tate City, Georgia, on Wednesday, November 16. Hide Caption 15 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighters walk down a dirt road as a wildfire burns a hillside in Clayton, Georgia, on Tuesday, November 15. Hide Caption 16 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A wildfire burns as it approaches Bat Cave, North Carolina, on November 15. Hide Caption 17 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighters Valarie Lopez and Mark Tabaez work to cool hot spots in Clayton on November 15. A number of the fires are being investigated as suspected arson, but weather conditions are also responsible for the fires. Hide Caption 18 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighter Kevin Zimmer works the wildfire in Clayton on November 15. Hide Caption 19 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Exhausted firefighters take a break in Waldens Creek, Tennessee, on Monday, November 14. Hide Caption 20 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A haze hovers over the Atlanta skyline from a wildfire burning in the northwest part of Georgia on November 14. Hide Caption 21 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Assistant Fire Chief Brent Masey sprays water on a wildfire in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, on Thursday, November 10. Hide Caption 22 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A helicopter carrying 240 gallons of water takes off in Lake Lure, North Carolina, on November 10. Hide Caption 23 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Smoke from the Party Rock fire spreads near Lake Lure on Wednesday, November 9. Hide Caption 24 of 24
Several families are still hoping their missing loved ones are OK.
"I'll always cling to hope that there's a chance for rescue, but now that we're at hour 65 ... we have to come to a realization" that the chances of finding people alive and perhaps trapped near the fire zone are dimming, Gatlinburg fire Chief Greg Miller said Thursday morning.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said authorities are checking 70 leads through a hotline set up to track down people said to be missing. The bureau said the number of leads doesn't necessarily reflect the number of missing people.
Authorities continue to block access to the city, from which about 14,000 residents and tourists were evacuated Monday.
The fires that reached Gatlinburg began days earlier on a trail in the mountains 10 miles south of the city, National Park Service spokeswoman Dana Soehn said. But strong winds that began Sunday helped the fire spread into the Gatlinburg area on Monday.
Not all Monday's flames came from the park. Some of them were sparked by power lines that fell in heavy winds, officials said.
Investigators believe the trail fire was "human caused," Soehn said, without offering further information. The cause is still under investigation.
Wildfires have burned in many parts of the Southeast for weeks, fueled by the region's worst drought in nearly a decade.
'She was scared'
Hagler was likely preparing for an upcoming family trip to Disney World when the flames approached Monday, her daughter-in-law Rachel Wood said.
Alice Hagler, 70, died in the Tennessee wildfires. The grandmother of two lived in Gatlinburg.
Wood said she talked to her by phone late Monday afternoon, and that Hagler was nervous about strong winds shaking her house. Unbeknownst to either of them, the wind would push the fire to the home.
"She was unsettled, and she was scared," Rachel Wood told "New Day" on Thursday. "She said she felt like her house was going to blow down because of the winds, and she said there was ash in the air."
Hours later, the family said, she called her son James Wood to tell him that her home had caught fire.
"I told her to get out immediately," and then the line disconnected, James Wood told CNN affiliate WATE earlier this week.
Hagler was supposed to have met Lyle and Rachel and her two grandchildren in their home in Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday. From there, they were supposed to have gone to Disney World this week.
"She loved those kids very much," Lyle Wood said. "She was one of those ladies that just loved people. ... She never found anybody she wasn't willing to talk to."
"We ask for prayers for the people that are still trying to figure out how to put this thing all back together."
Firefighters refuse to rest at home
Days after Monday's main blaze, firefighters were still putting out brush fires and searching scorched areas for survivors and the dead.
Firefighters from throughout the region have joined those in the county. Miller, the Gatlinburg fire chief, said Thursday he has been trying to get his crews to go home when their shifts are done, but most stay at the station, sleeping on the floor.
"They don't want to go home," but prefer to stay involved and keep searching for those who are presumed missing, he said.
Firefighters from the Johnson City Professional Firefighters Association L-1791 rest after 36 hours of battling the fires around Gatlinburg.
The Johnson City Professional Firefighters Association posted a picture on Facebook showing five firefighters asleep on the sidewalk, their heads resting on their gears. They had just returned from battling the blaze for 30 straight hours
'Nothing in our pockets'
Authorities said they would begin to allow the public to access to burned areas in phases, starting this weekend in unincorporated parts of the county and next week in parts of Gatlinburg.
Officials will soon post information about damaged properties on a Facebook page , Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner said.
Some residents already have managed to see the destruction first-hand. Trevor Cates, 37, who lost his home in the Gatlinburg area, also lost the church he attends. On Tuesday he walked through the charred remains of the Banner Baptist Church's buildings north of the city.
"We had practically no warning," Cates told CNN Thursday. "My wife and son ran through the home and grabbed a laundry basket full of pictures, our firesafe, my two Bibles, some changes of clothes, and our two cats and one dog."
Trevor Cates walks through the smoldering remains of the fellowship hall of his church, the Banner Baptist Church, in Gatlinburg on Tuesday.
He said insurance would leave him with no more mortgage payments but "nothing in our pockets." He and his family are temporarily staying at his parents' house elsewhere in the county.
"So ... now we literally are going to start off with less than we even had the first day we were married," he said. "The positive thing, obviously, is we have our two kids, our animals, and each other. God knows best. He always has, he always will."
Andrew Duncan sent a camera-equipped drone over Gatlinburg's east Foothills area, where he and his family had just sold a cabin they had owned for 20 years. That cabin and many others, as well as a home that he was about to buy, were destroyed, he said.
This image, taken Wednesday by a camera from an aerial drone operated by Gatlinburg cabin owner Andrew Duncan, shows cabins destroyed by the Gatlinburg-area wildfire.
"There were cars left in ditches where people wrecked them trying to escape," he said Thursday. "Small fires are still burning within the structures, and those that did burn appeared to be total losses. We didn't see any partially burned structures."
'I thought she'd be standing in the driveway'
Another Gatlinburg resident, Michael Reed , has been desperate to find out what happened to his wife and two daughters, from whom he was separated Monday night.
Reed and his family were in their Gatlinburg-area home when word spread that fire was burning out of control nearby. He and his 15-year-old son left in the family's only vehicle to see what side of the road the fire was on.
He told CNN that he got stuck in traffic as people fled. He received a panicked call from his wife, Constance, 34.
"She ... said there were flames across the street from the house. I told her to call 911," he said. He rushed back to the home.
"The road was on fire and every house was engulfed in flames. I thought she'd be standing in the driveway."
Since then, he's been trying to find out what happened to Constance and their daughters, Chloe, 12, and Lily, 9. He said authorities haven't been able to find them.
"We're just hoping for a miracle," Reed told CNN affiliate WATE on Tuesday.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials have closed all facilities in the park due to the extensive fire activity, and downed trees. pic.twitter.com/uZ2nLEOQrx — GreatSmokyNPS (@GreatSmokyNPS) November 29, 2016
Also missing are Memphis couple Jon and Janet Summers, who were visiting the area with their three sons for a family getaway, CNN affiliate WMC reported
The family appears to have been separated on Monday, and the sons were found unconscious, WMC reported. They were in a hospital on Tuesday. ||||| Smoke rises from the remains of the Alamo Steak House Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016, in Gatlinburg, Tenn., after a wildfire swept through the area Monday. Three more bodies were found in the ruins of wildfires... (Associated Press)
Smoke rises from the remains of the Alamo Steak House Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016, in Gatlinburg, Tenn., after a wildfire swept through the area Monday. Three more bodies were found in the ruins of wildfires that torched hundreds of homes and businesses in the Great Smoky Mountains area, officials said... (Associated Press)
GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — After nearly 24 hours of drenching rain helped quench a series of devastating wildfires in eastern Tennessee, local officials turned to cleanup and recovery efforts even as they battled their own personal crises.
Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner said discussions were under way about re-opening the resort city as early as Friday, which would give business owners and residents their first look at the damage in a city that has been closed since Monday night.
Werner has spent the better part of two days standing in front of TV cameras saying "everything is going to be OK," all while he lost the home he built himself along with all seven buildings of the condominium business he owned.
"I really can't dwell on it that much. I think of others that have lost theirs, and it keeps my mind off of our problems," he said while fighting back tears. "It's really hard, it's really tough."
Werner was just one of several city officials confronting the crisis while dealing with losses of their own. Gatlinburg City Manager Cindy Cameron Ogle also lost her home in the fire. And Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said the homes of several firefighters are among the estimated 300 plus buildings in the city that have been destroyed.
"They have not asked to be off," Miller said. "That's just a testament to the dedication of these responders who serve this community. They put their own personal needs aside to take care of everybody else."
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash said Wednesday afternoon that the fires were "likely to be human-caused," The Washington Post reported.
Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters said officials plan to announce Thursday morning when local residents and business owners can return to the city. Authorities discovered three more bodies among the ruins Wednesday, raising the death toll to seven. But there were some happy moments, as three people who had been trapped since the fires started Monday night were rescued.
"That is some good, positive news for a change," he said.
The mayor said authorities are still working to identify the dead and did not release any details about how they were killed. State law enforcement set up a hotline for people to report missing friends and family. Officials have not said how many people they believe are missing.
Three brothers being treated at a Nashville hospital said they had not heard from their parents since they were separated while fleeing the fiery scene during their vacation.
Gatlinburg Police Chief Randall Brackins said they have searched about 30 percent or less of the city so far.
More than 14,000 people were evacuated from Gatlinburg on Monday night, and many of them are still nervously awaiting word of when they can get back in the city to see if they still have homes.
Buddy McLean said he watched Monday from a deserted Gatlinburg street as flames surrounded his 26-acre hotel nestled in the mountains.
"I have 35 employees," McLean said. "All of them lost their jobs overnight."
Country music legend Dolly Parton said she is establishing a fund to help victims of the wildfires. Parton said The Dollywood Company and The Dollywood Foundation were establishing the My People Fund, which will provide $1,000 monthly to Sevier County families who lost their homes.
The flames reached the doorstep of Dollywood, the theme park named after Parton, but the park was spared any significant damage and will reopen Friday. Parton said she hopes the financial assistance will help people who lost everything get back on their feet.
Storms moved through the area as part of a system ravaging the Southeast, spawning suspected tornadoes in parts of Alabama and Tennessee, killing at least five people and injuring more than a dozen.
Much remained uncertain for a region that serves as the gateway into the Great Smoky Mountains, the country's most visited national park.
The Rocky Top Sports World complex on the outskirts of town was serving as a shelter. Wolf McLellan stumbled into the facility after a day of wandering the streets. He was forced to evacuate a motel where he was staying. He grabbed his guitar, two computers and his social security card and tried to flee with his dog, Kylie.
"She was too scared to move with the smoke and sirens and she just stood there. I didn't want to drag her. I couldn't drag her," he said. "I figured the humane thing to do would be to just cut her loose."
___
Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press writers Steve Megargee, Kristin M. Hall and Erik Schelzig in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, contributed to this report. | – Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner has been the voice of calm while the Tennessee city battled a 15,000-acre wildfire that killed at least seven people before it was put out with help from some much-needed rain. That didn't change Thursday as he noted cleanup efforts are now underway and suggested 14,000 evacuated residents could return to the area as soon as Friday. But Werner knows well what those residents might find: His home and seven condominium buildings he owns burned to the ground. "I really can't dwell on it that much," he tells the AP. "I think of others that have lost theirs, and it keeps my mind off of our problems." Gatlinburg's fire chief adds several firefighters also lost their homes, but are still working "to take care of everybody else." A National Park Service rep says the fire began on a trail 10 miles south of Gatlinburg and was "human caused," though she offered no other details, reports CNN. As it spread, the fire destroyed more than 700 buildings in Sevier County, including 300 in Gatlinburg. Many other people are missing and officials fear the death toll will rise as they are now moving from house to house to survey damage. Though Dollywood in neighboring Pigeon Forge escaped major damage, Tennessee native Dolly Parton says her foundation will donate $1,000 per month for six months to survivors who lost their homes. "We want to provide a hand up to those families who have lost everything … so that they can get back on their feet," Parton says, per BuzzFeed. | [
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There is growing pressure on the Government to hold a full historical inquiry into the deaths of almost 800 children in a mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway between the 1920s and the 1960s.
There were numerous calls from TDs, Senators and councillors yesterday for a full inquiry following the disclosure that many infants and children who died in the home run by the Bon Secours order were buried in an unmarked plot.
Minister for Children Charlie Flanagan said yesterday that he was giving “active consideration to the best means of addressing the harrowing details emerging regarding the burial arrangements for children who died many years ago in mother and baby homes”.
‘Deeply disturbing’
“Many of the revelations are deeply disturbing and a shocking reminder of a darker past in Ireland when our children were not cherished as they should have been,” he said.
In a statement last night, Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary said while the archdiocese would co-operate with any inquiry, it did not have any involvement in the running of the home and had no records in its archives.
“There exists a clear moral imperative on the Bon Secours Sisters in this case to act upon their responsibilities in the interest of the common good,” Dr Neary said.
Records uncovered by local historian Catherine Corless showed a large number of children died at the home over 36 years between 1925 and 1961. Almost 800 newborns and older infants died in that period, an average of almost 30 per year.
The building and land had been in use as a workhouse and mother and baby home since the 1840s. It is believed the remains were discovered some time ago but it is not established when they date from, or if any precede the operation of the home from 1925.
Yesterday politicians from both Government and Opposition parties, including Galway East Minister of State Ciarán Cannon, called for an inquiry into the circumstances behind so many deaths in the home, as well as into the remains found in the unmarked plot.
‘Manslaughter’
One Government Senator from Galway, Fine Gael’s Hildegarde Naughton, claimed in the Seanad that what had occurred was “manslaughter”, although no others went that far.
Tuam-based Fianna Fáil TD Colm Keaveney said the Taoiseach should take a strategic role in the matter, notwithstanding his being abroad on a Government trip to the US. He said Enda Kenny should order an interdepartmental investigation.
“The issues around the horrendous disposal of bodies in unmarked locations raises questions about the role of the State and service providers,” he said.
Some politicians said they would like an inquiry widened to all such homes not covered by the Magdalene inquires. |||||
Children’s Home, Dublin Road, Tuam, Ireland circa 1950. (Courtesy of Catherine Corless/Tuam Historical Society)
Updated on June 24 with corrected headline. *
In a town in western Ireland, where castle ruins pepper green landscapes, there’s a six-foot stone wall that once surrounded a place called the Home. Between 1925 and 1961, thousands of “fallen women” and their “illegitimate” children passed through the Home, run by the Bon Secours nuns in Tuam.
Many of the women, after paying a penance of indentured servitude for their out-of-wedlock pregnancy, left the Home for work and lives in other parts of Ireland and beyond. Some of their children were not so fortunate.
More than five decades after the Home was closed and destroyed — where a housing development and children’s playground now stands — what happened to nearly 800 of those abandoned children has perhaps now emerged: Their bodies were piled into a massive septic tank sitting in the back of the structure and forgotten, with neither gravestones nor coffins. (In PostEverything: “Philomena” author Martin Sixsmith writes, “Sadly, the mass grave at Tuam is probably not unique.”)
Some in Ireland are hoping to memorialize the spot where nearly 800 children were found in an unmarked grave at a former home for unmarried mothers run by the Bons Secours Sisters. (Reuters)
“The bones are still there,” local historian Catherine Corless, who uncovered the origins of the mass grave in a batch of never-before-released documents, told The Washington Post in a phone interview. “The children who died in the Home, this was them.”
The grim findings, which are being reviewed by police, provide a glimpse into a particularly dark time for unmarried pregnant women in Ireland, where societal and religious mores stigmatized them. Without means to support themselves, women by the hundreds wound up at the Home. “When daughters became pregnant, they were ostracized completely,” Corless said. “Families would be afraid of neighbors finding out, because to get pregnant out of marriage was the worst thing on Earth. It was the worst crime a woman could commit, even though a lot of the time it had been because of a rape.”
A photo of some of the children at “the Home” in 1924 (Connaught Tribune, 21st June 1924) pic.twitter.com/foGFqAKJ8m — Limerick1914 (@Limerick1914) May 27, 2014
According to documents Corless provided the Irish Mail on Sunday, malnutrition and neglect killed many of the children, while others died of measles, convulsions, TB, gastroenteritis and pneumonia. Infant mortality at the Home was staggeringly high.
“If you look at the records, babies were dying two a week, but I’m still trying to figure out how they could [put the bodies in a septic tank],” Corless said. “Couldn’t they have afforded baby coffins?”
Special kinds of neglect and abuse were reserved for the Home Babies, as locals call them. Many in surrounding communities remember them. They remember how they were segregated to the fringes of classrooms, and how the local nuns accentuated the differences between them and the others. They remember how, as one local told the Irish Central, they were “usually gone by school age — either adopted or dead.”
According to Irish Central, a 1944 local health board report described the children living at the Home as “emaciated,” “pot-bellied,” “fragile” and with “flesh hanging loosely on limbs.”
How could anybody hurt these beautiful little children? http://t.co/1KkcOWqCdW pic.twitter.com/Xr0YQeZq8P — The Raven (@TheRavenxx) June 2, 2014
Corless has a vivid recollection of the Home Babies. “If you acted up in class, some nuns would threaten to seat you next to the Home Babies,” she said. She said she recalled one instance in which an older schoolgirl wrapped a tiny stone in a bright candy wrapper and gave it to a Home Baby as a gift.
“When the child opened it, she saw she’d been fooled,” Corless told Irish Central. “Of course, I copied her later and I tried to play the joke on another little Home girl. I thought it was funny at the time…. Years after, I asked myself what did I do to that poor little girl that never saw a sweet? That has stuck with me all my life. A part of me wants to make up to them.”
She said she first started investigating the Home, which most locals wanted to “forget,” when she started working on a local annual historical journal. She heard there was a little graveyard near what had been the Home, and that piqued her curiosity. How many children were there?
So she requested the records through the local registration house to find out. The attendant “came back a couple of weeks later and said the number was staggering, just hundreds and hundreds, that it was nearly 800 dead children,” Corless said.
Once, Corless said in the phone interview, several boys had stumbled across the mass grave, which lay beneath a cracked piece of concrete: “The boys told me it had been filled to the brim with human skulls and bones. They said even to this day they still have nightmares of finding the bodies.”
Locals suspect that the number of bodies in the mass grave, which will likely soon be excavated, may be even higher than 800. “God knows who else is in the grave,” one anonymous source told the Daily Mail. “It’s been lying there for years, and no one knows the full extent of the total of bodies down there.”
*Correction: The original headline on this story was “Bodies of 800 babies, long dead, found in septic tank at former Irish home for unwed mothers.” No bodies have been found in a tank. The historian believes they are there based on her research. The Irish government is investigating.
MORE NEWS:
Photos of the day
Rihanna’s ‘invisible’ dress, red carpet at Fashion Designers awards ||||| The entrance to the site of a mass grave of hundreds of children who died in the former Bons Secours home for unmarried mothers is seen in Tuam, County Galway June 4, 2014.
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's Roman Catholic Church told the order of nuns who ran the former home where a mass grave of almost 800 children was found that it must co-operate with any inquiry into the discovery.
Ireland is considering an investigation into what the government called a "deeply disturbing" discovery of an unmarked graveyard at a former home run by the Bon Secours Sister where 796 children died between 1925 and 1961.
The Archbishop of Tuam said that while it did not have any involvement in the running of the home, his diocese was horrified and saddened to learn of the scale of the number of children buried at the Church-run home.
"I can only begin to imagine the huge emotional wrench which the mothers suffered in giving up their babies for adoption or by witnessing their death. The pain and brokenness which they endured is beyond our capacity to understand," Archbishop Michael Neary said in a statement.
"Regardless of the time lapse involved this is a matter of great public concern which ought to be acted upon urgently."
The Bon Secours order was not available for comment.
Ireland's once powerful Church has been rocked by a series of scandals over the abuse and neglect of children. Public records show that 796 children died in the county Galway "mother-and-baby home" before its closure, according to a local historian.
Researcher Catherine Corless said the bodies were buried in a sewage tank on the grounds and that some of the dead were as young as three-months-old.
The Catholic Church ran many of Ireland's social services in the 20th century, including mother-and-baby homes where tens of thousands of unwed pregnant women, including rape victims, were sent to give birth.
Unmarried mothers and their children were seen as a stain on Ireland's image as a devout Catholic nation. They were also a problem for some of the fathers, particularly powerful figures such as priests and wealthy, married men.
Like the Magdalene Laundries, where single women and girls were sent, the mother-and-baby homes were run by nuns but received state funding. They acted as adoption agencies and in that capacity were overseen by the state.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Angus MacSwan) ||||| DUBLIN — The government and the police are coming under increasing pressure to open an investigation into allegations that a Roman Catholic religious order secretly buried up to 796 babies and toddlers born to unmarried mothers in a septic tank over several decades.
Speaking in the Irish Parliament on Wednesday, the minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, called the discovery of what is described as an unmarked grave as “deeply disturbing and a shocking reminder of a darker past in Ireland when our children were not cherished as they should have been.”
The burials are believed to have taken place on the site of a so-called mother-and-baby home in Tuam, County Galway, from 1925 to 1961. The institution, which was run by the Sisters of Bon Secours, was subsequently demolished, and a housing development now sits adjacent to the site.
The Sisters have declined to comment. They were reported to be meeting with the local bishop. They have neither denied nor confirmed the practice. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
/ Updated
Grim reports that nearly 800 dead babies were discovered in the septic tank of a home run by nuns has set off a round of soul-searching in Ireland and sparked calls for accountability from government and Catholic Church officials.
Fresh research suggests that some 796 children were secretly buried in the sewage tank of the home in Tuam, County Galway, where unmarried pregnant women were sent to give birth in an attempt to preserve the country's devout Catholic image.
Officials said they were "horrified" at the discovery and said it revealed "a darker past in Ireland," a country often haunted by its history of abuse within powerful church institutions.
The home was run by nuns from the Bon Secours Sisters congregation between 1925 and 1961. It was one of the "mother and baby" homes across Ireland, similar to the Sean Ross Abbey, in Tipperary, where Philomena Lee gave her child up for adoption in a story that was this year made into the eponymous Oscar-nominated film "Philomena."
People who lived near the home said they have known about the unmarked mass grave for decades, but a fresh investigation was sparked this week after research by local historian Catherine Corless purportedly showed that of the hundreds of children who died at the home, only one was buried at a cemetery.
Speaking to the Irish Mail, which first reported her research, she also said that health board records from the 1940s said conditions at the home were dire, with children suffering malnutrition and neglect and dying at a rate four times higher than in the rest of Ireland. | – This week's news that at least 796 Irish babies were buried in a septic tank on the property of a home for unwed mothers sometime between 1925 and 1961 was not the first time the presence of a mass grave there had been hinted at. The New York Times reports that word of the bodies first emerged in 1975 by way of two 12-year-old boys who were playing at the site and reported that their look into a hole in a concrete slab revealed a space "filled to the brim with bones." So why did it take four decades and a determined historian to expose what may have happened at the mother-and-baby home in Tuam, County Galway? Locals apparently wrote off the remains as remnants from a workhouse that pre-dated the home, or even a relic of the 1840s famine. Though the Washington Post earlier reported an investigation was under way, the Times indicates that's not the case: Police yesterday said in a statement, "There is no suggestion of any impropriety and there is no ... investigation. Also, there is no confirmation from any source that there are between 750 and 800 bodies present." (NBC News reports that historian Catherine Corless found only a single record of one of the children in question being buried at a cemetery.) Still, the police are being urged to open an inquiry, as is the government, with politicians clamoring for an investigation, reports the Irish Times. The one group that could possibly shed light on the situation—the Sisters of Bon Secours, which ran the home—has yet to issue a comment. Reuters reports that Ireland's Roman Catholic Church has instructed the nuns to assist with any investigation that might occur. Click for more on the story. | [
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These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| THE CONTENDERS | Ben Carson struggled to sound like a convincing commander-in-chief with an answer to how he would deal with the war on terrorism. After using most of his time to talk about how the U.S. military has been decimated by cuts, particularly in recent years because of sequestration, he said simply: “I would shore up our military first because if you don’t get the military right nothing else is going to work.”
He didn’t sound like a politician used to responding to tough questions with time-limited responses.
Twitter took notice:
Ben Carson sounds like that guy at a wedding who wasn't expecting to be asked to make a speech and mumbles into his napkin — nicky (@wetherelln) August 7, 2015
Carson seemed on firmer footing when he was able to do freestyle criticism of Hillary Clinton. He called her “the epitome of the secular progressive movement, and she counts on the fact that the people are not informed.” That’s a line that hits all the right notes with the base.
He also was comfortable responding when asked how he would improve race relations. (He was the only African American on the stage, and was the only candidate asked that question.) Instead of laying out a path to racial harmony, he tossed out feel-good slogans such as, “We are the United States of America, not the divided states.”
He used his closing statement to talk about what makes him unique among a stage full of politicians.
“I’m the only one to separate Siamese twins. I’m the only one to operate on babies while they were still in their mother’s womb. The only one to take out half a brain, although you would think if you got to Washington that some else had beaten me to it,” he said, joining the audience and the stage in laughter.
Those qualities have nothing to do with being president, but at least one Carson fan was impressed: ||||| Republicans are taking the stage in Cleveland for the first candidates’ debates of the 2016 election cycle. The main primetime debate is at 9 p.m. ET, featuring the top 10 candidates — as judged by poll averages. Ahead of that, at 5 p.m., is a debate for the seven candidates who didn’t make the cut. Here is our live blog. ||||| The seed for Wide00014 was:
- Slash pages from every domain on the web:
-- a ranking of all URLs that have more than one incoming inter-domain link (rank was determined by number of incoming links using Wide00012 inter domain links)
-- up to a maximum of 100 most highly ranked URLs per domain
- Top ranked pages (up to a max of 100) from every linked-to domain using the Wide00012 inter-domain navigational link graph ||||| The Republican candidates repeated their opposition to the nuclear agreement reached with Iran by President Obama and other world leaders in part on the concern that Iran would profit from the lifting of sanctions. “We’re giving them $150 billion plus,” Donald J. Trump said.
The world powers are not giving Iran money, but by easing or terminating sanctions they would allow Iran to have access to many billions of dollars of its own money that have been frozen in overseas accounts. Much of the money came from Iranian sales of oil and other goods and has been frozen in China, India, South Korea and other countries for years.
Whether it would be as high as $150 billion is unknown. As Rick Gladstone reported in The Times, the Treasury Department has estimated that Iran has between $100 billion and $125 billion in foreign exchange assets worldwide, but that its usable liquid assets after sanctions relief would be much lower, more like $50 billion. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew told Congress that after Iran’s financial obligations, it would have roughly $56 billion left.
The governor of Iran’s central bank said last week that of roughly $77 billion held abroad, only $29 billion would be usable because the rest had already been committed to petrochemical investments or as collateral for Chinese-financed development projects. But critics said those estimates are too low and an attempt to shape the political debate. | – The GOP debate on Fox News tonight proved to be Trump-centric as he and his nine rivals—Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich—tried to emerge from the pack. (As Carly Fiorina did in the early debate.) In fact, Trump fielded the very first question, and it was a doozy. When all the candidates were asked if anyone was unwilling to pledge support to the eventual nominee and to rule out a run as an independent, only Trump raised his hand. “I will not make the pledge at this time,” he said. Other highlights, via CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post: Christie vs Paul: After Paul said, “I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. ... I’m proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to," Christie responded, "That's a completely ridiculous answer. ... How are you supposed to know? ... When you’re sitting in a subcommittee blowing hot air, then you can say things like that.” Bush on political dynasties: "I'm going to have to earn this." And on the Iraq war: “Knowing what we know now with faulty intelligence … it was a mistake. I wouldn’t have gone in.” CNN's David Chalian: "Nothing about tonight's debate indicated that Jeb Bush is in the driver's seat of this campaign. He seemed much more like a passenger—and at times a nervous and unsure one at that." Paul vs Trump: "He buys and sells politicians of all stripes. He’s already hedging his bet on the Clintons," said Paul. Trump responded that he's given money to Paul, too. Kasich: “Donald Trump's hitting a nerve in this country, he really is. ... For people to want to just tune him out, they’re making a mistake." He also gave an impassioned answer about his support of gay marriage, here. Writes Nicholas Confessore at the New York Times: "I think Kasich has been extremely effective up there. Lots of confidence, talks like a real person, and so far has successfully defended his biggest vulnerability--the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare." Rubio: “How is Hillary going to lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck." Rubio generally won praise tonight for his answers. Trump on political correctness: "I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I’ve been challenged by so many people and I don’t, frankly, have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time, either." Carson: He said Hillary Clinton "counts on the fact that people are uninformed." At another point, he thanked the moderator for a question and added, "I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again." Cruz: “It’s not a question of stupidity. It’s that they don’t want to enforce the immigration laws,” he said of unnamed GOP colleagues. Mostly though, Cruz had a surprisingly quiet night. Walker: “Every section of the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than it was." He also said Iran and ISIS were "tied together." Huckabee: "The military is not a social experiment," he said in discussing gender diversity and LGBT benefits. "The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things." Christie on New Jersey's financial trouble: "If you think it’s bad now, you should’ve seen it when I got there." | [
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Subway restaurant chain said Friday it received a "serious" complaint about Jared Fogle when he was the company's spokesman but that the complaint did not imply any criminal sexual activity.
The company announced in a statement that it has completed an internal investigation into whether it was alerted to concerns about Fogle, who agreed last month to plead guilty to allegations he paid for sex acts with girls as young as 16 and had received child pornography. The company has severed its ties to him.
Subway's investigation included a review of more than a million online comments and interviews with past and present employees and managers with both the company and an advertising fund, the statement said.
Subway spokeswoman Kristen McMahon said the company received the "serious" complaint in 2011 from former Florida journalist Rochelle Herman-Walrond, who says she worked with the FBI to record Fogle expressing interest in sex with minors. The company's statement said that while the complaint "expressed concerns about Mr. Fogle," it included "nothing that implied anything about sexual behavior or criminal activity involving Mr. Fogle." McMahon would not elaborate on the nature of the complaint.
Nevertheless, the company said it regrets the complaint was "not properly escalated or acted upon," according to the statement.
"It is important to note that the investigation found no further evidence of any other complaints of any kind regarding Mr. Fogle that were submitted to or shared with SUBWAY," the statement said.
Telephone calls by The Associated Press to Herman-Walrond seeking comment on Subway's statement were not immediately returned Friday night. Fogle's lawyers also did not respond to requests for comment.
It's unclear how Herman-Walrond knew Fogle, who lives in suburban Indianapolis. Authorities in Indiana would not say whether she was part of their investigation into him. But Fogle's plea agreement mentions that witnesses in Florida, Georgia and Washington state provided recordings and information it says show Fogle "repeatedly discussed with them his interest in engaging in commercial sex acts with minors or stated that he has done so in the past."
Separately, a lawyer for former Subway franchisee Cindy Mills said she alerted an executive in charge of the company's advertising in 2008 after Fogle began talking to her about paying for sex with minors. The attorney said Mills also shared her concerns with a regional Subway contact in Florida, where she is based.
The executive, Jeff Moody, has denied being aware of Fogle's criminal sexual conduct. The company has said it does not have a record of any complaints by the former franchisee.
Attempts to reach Mills' attorney on Friday were unsuccessful. ||||| Subway Says They Received Only One 'Serious' Complaint as Jared Fogle Investigation Concludes
After the completion of their investigation into convicted sex offender Jared Fogle Subway announced that they found only one "serious" complaint against the former company spokesman, PEOPLE can confirm.According to a statement from Subway, their investigation included an "extensive review" of over a million comments sent to the customer relations team. They also reviewed "all available documents, and interviews with past and present Company and Franchisee Advertising Fund employees and management.""The investigation identified one complaint that was submitted via Subway's website in 2011 that exposed concerns about Mr. Fogle," the statement reads. "Although the complaint was serious, there was nothing that implied anything about sexual behavior or criminal activity involving Mr. Fogle."We regret that this comment was not properly escalated or acted upon. When we first learned of the investigation into Mr. Fogle, we immediately suspended and subsequently ended out relationship with him."The statement continued, wishing victims and their families the company's "deepest sympathies".While Subway reports only one complaint, a former company franchisee claimed that she told the company about Fogle's sexual interest in children as early as 2008, but officials did nothing.The chain restaurant has denied being aware of the claims.Since allegations against Fogle surfaced, the 38-year-old has accepted a plea deal and will serve at least five years in prison, as well as paying $1.4 million in restitution and registering as a sex offender. | – Subway says it received a "serious" complaint about Jared Fogle years ago and failed to do much about it—but it didn't involve "anything about sexual behavior or criminal activity." A company spokeswoman says the complaint was received in 2011 from Rochelle Herman-Walrond, the informant who provided the FBI with evidence that will send Fogle to prison for years on child porn and underage sex charges, the AP reports. It's not clear what the complaint involved but in a statement, Subway said the company regrets that it was "not properly escalated or acted upon." Subway says the 2011 complaint was the only complaint it found about its former pitchman in a thorough review of more than a million customer comments, as well as "all available documents, and interviews with past and present Company and Franchisee Advertising Fund employees and management," People reports. A former franchisee in Florida, however, says she made a complaint to the executive in charge of Subway's advertising in 2008 when Fogle started telling her about his sexual interest in minors. Her lawyer says she also spoke to a regional Subway exec about Fogle after the inappropriate comments began, reports the AP. (A rare sniffer dog helped build the case against Fogle.) | [
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IFAW via Reuters Two dolphins are prepared for release Monday into Cape Cod Bay.
BOSTON -- Nineteen dolphins that stranded themselves along Cape Cod have been treated and released, but several dozen others have perished since the string of strandings began last Thursday.
Eight that stranded alive did not survive, said Katie Moore, manager for marine mammal rescue at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, while another 32 washed ashore already dead.
Of the 19 survivors, one was a calf and another a pregnant mom.
Strandings typically happen from January to April, but the pattern this year is unlike past years, when just one dolphin or a group would be found on a single beach, she said.
"I've been doing this for 15 years and this is only the second season I've seen it like this," she said.
Julia Cumes / AP A dolphin is given a hearing test before being released back into Cape Cod Bay at Scusset Beach on Saturday.
"It feels like stranding after stranding after stranding," Moore added. "It's definitely out of the ordinary."
The dolphins began beaching themselves on Thursday, with a single dolphin stranded near the town of Wellfleet, said IFAW spokeswoman Kerry Branon.
On Saturday, the busiest day for rescuers, at least 37 dolphin were found spanning five towns along 20 miles of Cape Cod, Branon said.
Cape Cod is among the top locations for the phenomenon worldwide, she said. Beaching of dolphins has been happening for centuries, but researchers are still trying to determine what brings the dolphins to Cape Cod Bay this time of year.
The group actions tend to happen, in part, because dolphins operate with a group mentality, where many others may follow one animal toward shallow water, IFAW said.
The animals, which tend to get stuck on the bay side of the hook-shaped Cape Cod, are assessed by rescuers and then taken to deeper water on the ocean side and released.
Marine biologists check for signs of stress and body condition, among other factors, and tag the dolphins with an identifier before release.
A handful of animals have also been affixed with a tag to track movement and transmit data to researchers, Branon said.
"We also were able to test the hearing on one animal as well ... important data for our project which will hopefully aid in conservation measures to protect marine mammals from ocean noise," Moore said in a statement.
Moore said this year's series of dolphins stranded on beaches reminded her of the 2005-2006 winter, when dolphins beached themselves over a 40-day period.
Reuters contributed to this report.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News ||||| Worries about Cape dolphin strandings
PROVINCETOWN — Marine mammal experts predict the mass stranding of common dolphins along the Cape Cod Bay coastline could continue for many days, given new sightings Monday.
In Provincetown Harbor on Monday, rescuers kept a close eye on 75 common dolphins that were acting erratically and appeared close to stranding, Scott Landry of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies said.
The center's aerial survey team, in flight on Monday to count North Atlantic right whales, counted at least 300 dolphins in Cape Cod Bay, including those in the harbor, Landry said.
In the past five days, about 40 to 50 dolphins have been reported stranded over 25 miles of coastline from Dennis to Wellfleet, said Katie Moore, marine mammal rescue director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Yarmouthport.
Of those, 27 have been found alive and 19 have been released in local waters. Six dolphins that stranded on Wellfleet beaches on Monday were released at Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown, Moore said.
The common dolphin typically makes its home in waters deeper than Cape Cod Bay and farther from the shoreline. The ones in the area now may be attempting to head south but have gotten caught in the bay, Landry said.
The 75 dolphins in Provincetown Harbor appeared to have righted themselves and headed out to safer waters, Landry said Monday evening.
"We don't think this is over," he said. "It seems pretty likely that this stranding is going to be protracted unless something radical changes."
The coastal studies center works under the direction of the Yarmouthport animal welfare organizations to respond to the strandings, Landry said.
Dolphin strandings have occurred for hundreds of years, Moore said. The exact cause is not known but may relate to dolphins' tendency to follow one another, she said, and if the leader becomes disoriented or ill, the dolphins can run aground.
The last mass stranding on Cape Cod, when there was more than a month of activity, occurred in the winter of 2005 and 2006, Moore said.
"I'm hoping this doesn't last quite as long," she said.
Officials urge folks to call their 24-hour hotline at 508-743-9548 to report any strandings of marine mammals.
Reader Reaction We reserve the right to remove any content at any time from this Community, including without limitation if it violates the Community Rules . We ask that you report content that you in good faith believe violates the above rules by clicking the Flag link next to the offending comment. New comments are only accepted for two weeks from the date of publication. | – Volunteers in Cape Cod are scrambling to deal with an unusual spate of dolphin strandings. A solitary dolphin was found stranded last Thursday and dozens more followed in the days after. Nineteen were treated and released but eight others couldn't be saved, and another 32 washed ashore already dead, MSNBC reports. Some 75 other dolphins have been spotted behaving erratically in Provincetown harbor and may be close to beaching themselves, the Cape Cod Times reports. The International Fund for Animal Welfare's rescue director say she has only ever seen one other season with such a high number of dolphin strandings. "It feels like stranding after stranding after stranding," she says. "It's definitely out of the ordinary." | [
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Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Donald Trump has been accused of a making an “assassination threat” against rival Hillary Clinton, plunging his presidential campaign into a fresh crisis.
The volatile Republican nominee was speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, about the next president’s power to appoint supreme court justices. “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the second amendment,” said Trump, eliciting boos from the crowd.
This is Donald Trump at his lowest yet: a man hinting at murder | Lucia Graves Read more
“If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.”
The second amendment to the constitution protects the right of Americans to bear arms. Trump has accused his Democratic rival of wanting to abolish it, a charge that she denies.
His extraordinary remark on Tuesday was swiftly condemned by Democrats. Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, said: “This is simple – what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.”
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting took place in Newtown in 2012, went further in a tweet: “Don’t treat this as a political misstep. It’s an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis.”
British novelist Salman Rushdie then weighed in, tweeting: “Of course the Trump flacks are now trying to confuse the issue, but Senator Murphy is clear about what Trump meant.”
The claim was rejected by Jeff Sessions, a Republican senator from Alabama and longtime Trump supporter. He responded on CNN: “Totally wrong. I don’t believe that’s true. I don’t believe that’s at all what he meant.”
But Sessions acknowledged: “It may have been awkwardly phrased.”
Trump said later in reply to Sean Hannity on Fox News that he was referring to the political movement around the Second Amendment.
Hannity asked: “You know, so obviously you’re saying that there’s a strong political movement within the Second Amendment, and if people mobilize and vote, they can stop Hillary from having this impact on the court. But that’s not how the media is spinning it. What’s your reaction to it?”
Trump replied: “Well, I just heard about that, and it was amazing because nobody in that room thought anything other than what you just said. This is a political movement. This is a strong, powerful movement, the Second Amendment … there can be no other interpretation. Even reporters have told me – I mean give me a break.”
Trump has been striving to show more discipline on the campaign trail after a string of gaffes in recent weeks. He remained in control in Detroit on Monday when a speech on the economy was repeatedly interrupted by protesters. But in Wilmington, he apparently could not resist going off-script.
Campaigners for gun control expressed outrage at his off-the-cuff remark. Po Murray, chair of the Newtown Action Alliance, said: “Donald Trump continues to pander to the corporate gun lobby and the gun extremists who thrive on fear and rhetoric.
“Any suggestion that gun violence should be used to stop Hillary Clinton from appointing supreme court justices is dangerous and reckless. It’s no surprise that 50 GOP national security experts have signed a letter making a pledge to not vote for him.”
Mark Glaze, former executive director of Everytown for Gun Safety, said: “It may well be an incitement to violence, but understand it’s the basic theory on which the modern gun industry is built. Their core audience is people who hate the government and believe they’re going to have to take up arms against it. My guess is this is a deliberate dog whistle to that significant number of people.
“There are people out there who hear this kind of thing in a certain way, and if they’re already inclined to hatred of government and Hillary Clinton and see guns as a public policy solution, who knows what could happen?”
The concern was echoed by Paul Begala, a former adviser to Bill Clinton in the White House. “This is not something that should be joked about,” he told CNN. “I hope in the best case you could say he was joking. It didn’t seem like a joke to me. Tony Schwartz, the guy who wrote [Trump’s book] The Art of the Deal, says Trump never jokes.
“I fear that an unbalanced person hears that in this inflamed environment and, God forbid, thinks that was a threat. I certainly take it as a threat, I really do, and Trump needs to apologise.”
Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA and National Security Agency, said on the same channel:
“Well, let me say, if someone had have said that outside the hall he’d be in the back of a police wagon now with the secret service questioning him.”
As yet another controversy threatened to engulf him, Trump’s campaign insisted that his words had been misunderstood. Jason Miller, a spokesperson, attempted to explain the candidate’s comments. “It’s called the power of unification,” he said. “Second amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won’t be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump.”
National Rifle Association spokeswoman Jennifer Baker called the uproar over Trump’s remarks a “distraction created by the dishonest media.”
“The NRA represents law-abiding gun owners and we support lawful behavior,” she wrote in an email.
“The NRA and Donald Trump are calling for Second Amendment supporters to protect their constitutional right to self defense by defeating Hillary Clinton at the ballot box,” Baker said. “Second Amendment voters understand the stakes. They understand that the Second Amendment is on the ballot.”
Clinton’s campaign went on the record in May saying that she believes the Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller decision, a key victory for gun rights, was “wrongly decided.”
The 5-4 Heller decision struck down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban as unconstitutional, ruling that Americans have an individual right to own guns for self-defense in their homes.
“If Heller is overturned, that paves the way for extreme gun control for decades,” Baker said.
The official NRA Twitter feed compared Trump’s remarks to a 2008 comment from then-Senator Joseph Biden, who said “If [Obama] tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem,” and asked “Was Joe Biden…suggesting violence here?”
Katie Pavlich, a prominent conservative writer who spoke at this year’s NRA annual meeting, also slammed the media’s coverage of Trump’s remarks, tweeting: “Media totally exposed itself (again) today by assuming Second Amendment supporters are assassins instead of voters.”
But she added: “That said Trump is reason Trump has no credibility/isn’t given the benefit of the doubt when actually misunderstood.” She was referencing Trump’s remark in January that “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
Pavlich wrote: “I’m not defending Trump or his comments, I’m defending Second Amendment supporters.”
The supreme court has become a central election issue since the death earlier this year of Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative who has not yet been replaced. Trump claims that liberal judges could threaten the second amendment.
Progressive pressure groups that have been watching the process closely joined the condemnation of Trump on Tuesday. Michael Keegan, president of People for the American Way, said: “There has been no shortage of inexcusable rhetoric from Trump, but suggesting gun violence is truly abhorrent. There is no place in our public discourse for this kind of statement, especially from someone seeking the nation’s highest office.”
Neil Sroka, communications director of Democracy for America, added: “Honestly, it’s a little unclear whether Donald Trump was calling for his supporters to assassinate a Clinton court pick or take up an armed insurrection against a government that allowed her to appoint one. Either way, the only thing more insane than electing someone president who blows this kind of violent dog whistle would be buying the furious spin coming out of his campaign trying to explain it away.”
Trump has produced a shortlist of conservative justices that he hopes will appeal to the Republican base and deter those considering defecting to Clinton, who could set the court on a liberal trajectory for years to come.
He told supporters on Tuesday: “I guess there’s a scenario in which this president could pick five supreme court justices, and if you pick two that are left, left, left, it’s going to be a disaster for our country.”
The NRA had endorsed him early, he added. “We want to replace with justices very much like Justice Scalia and that’s going to happen, that’s so important. One of the most important elections for a lot of reasons, not just that,” he said.
He also told the rally that Clinton is “dangerous” and could destroy the country from within because of her immigration policies.
Trump was introduced by Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, who brought up the case of Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist executed for spying for the US. Clinton received emails mentioning him on her controversial personal server when she was secretary of state.
Giuliani said: “Remember Hillary told us there was no top secret information on her emails? Remember she told us that. Well, she lied! And I don’t know the connection between that and the death of Mr Amiri, but what I do know is it put a lot more attention on him when they found those emails. It certainly put him at great risk, even if they didn’t find them, and it shows you that when the director of the FBI said she was extremely careless, he was being kind.”
But Giuliani repeatedly waved away chants of “Lock her up!” from the crowd.
Lois Beckett contributed reporting. ||||| At a rally in Wilmington, N.C., Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said rival Hillary Clinton wants to “essentially” abolish the Second Amendment. He warned of Clinton’s ability to pick Supreme Court justices if she wins, saying there would be “nothing you can do, folks.” (The Washington Post)
At a rally in Wilmington, N.C., Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said rival Hillary Clinton wants to “essentially” abolish the Second Amendment. He warned of Clinton’s ability to pick Supreme Court justices if she wins, saying there would be “nothing you can do, folks.” (The Washington Post)
Donald Trump was ticking through a list of reasons to support him over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday when he decided to linger on one.
“If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks,” Trump said with a shrug at a rally here after accusing Clinton of wanting to strip Americans of their gun rights. He paused, then softly offered a postscript: “Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
The denouncements came swiftly from Clinton’s campaign and her allies — and from outside politics. The insinuation, critics said, was that Trump was inciting his followers to bear arms against a president in the future. And Trump’s response was just as swift: He’d said nothing of the sort but was merely encouraging gun rights advocates to be politically involved.
The pattern has repeated itself again and again. First come Trump’s attention-getting expressions. Then come the outraged reactions. The headlines follow. Finally, Trump, his aides and his supporters lash out at the media, accusing journalists of twisting his words or missing the joke. It happened last week, when Trump appeared to kick a baby out of a rally, then later insisted that he was kidding. It happened the week before, when he encouraged Russia to hack Clinton’s emails, then claimed he was just being sarcastic.
And with each new example, Trump’s rhetorical asides grow more alarming to many who hear them — and prompt condemnations from an ever-wider universe of critics. On Tuesday, for instance, even Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), one of Trump’s most ardent defenders, struggled to fully embrace his comments. Sessions insisted in an interview on CNN that Trump did not mean to encourage violence, but he acknowledged that Trump’s words were “awkwardly phrased.”
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People from other corners weighed in, too. “As the daughter of a leader who was assassinated, I find #Trump’s comments distasteful, disturbing, dangerous,” tweeted Bernice King, daughter of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. “His words don’t #LiveUp. #MLK.”
The Secret Service acknowledged Tuesday in a tweet that agents were “aware” of the episode.
Trump’s most dedicated fans said they understood what he was saying, and they scoffed at the reaction of Democrats and the headlines from newspapers and news shows.
“In no way was he threatening Hillary,” said Sarah Smith, a 72-year-old retiree who attended the rally in Wilmington where Trump made the remark. “Anybody who thinks that is delusional.”
James Renaud, 66, said he took the comment “at face value,” meaning gun owners have to mobilize lest Clinton is able to stack the Supreme Court. “It was just off-the-cuff talking.”
And Keri Malkin, 49, said she didn’t “hear it that way at all,” suggesting that the insinuation that the comment was a threat against Clinton was engineered by her supporters.
“Hillary lies a lot, so it’s no surprise that her supporters would lie,” Malkin said.
The number of influential Republican officials saying they can’t vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is growing as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) pledges that she won’t vote for Trump. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
[In North Carolina, Trump hits the trail hard but late where he needs to win big]
But Trump’s rhetorical asides appear to be taking a toll among the electorate overall. Many voters find his remarks distasteful, even given his explanations. The possibility that he was joking or being sarcastic, or that he meant something other than what some people heard, doesn’t alter the growing view that Trump is reckless with his words.
Each day brings new polls showing the Republican nominee lagging Clinton nationally and in several key battleground states. The surveys show widespread uncertainty about whether Trump has the temperament to serve as president — a doubt that his ever-replenishing supply of rhetoric continues to feed.
“Don’t treat this as a political misstep,” tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a Clinton supporter and a staunch gun-control advocate. “It’s an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis.”
Trump has made concerted efforts to counter such concerns; Monday, he delivered an economic policy address in Detroit that many anxious Republicans had hoped would reset a campaign that had flailed for more than a week after Trump’s attacks on the Muslim American family of a U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq.
But part of the pattern of Trump’s controversies is that they often step on his efforts to broaden his appeal, as they seemed to in this instance.
He also sometimes grabs the media spotlight away from Clinton when he’d be better off letting her keep it. That happened Tuesday, too, when Clinton was dealing with an unwelcome distraction: the revelation that the father of the gunman in the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub in June had secured a prime seat at her rally Monday in Kissimmee, Fla.
On Tuesday, it was not immediately clear whether Trump was inciting gun owners to use their weapons against judges or a sitting president — or was encouraging some other action. Trump spokesman Jason Miller released a statement just moments after the comment, swatting down the idea that the mogul was doing anything other than encouraging political action.
At an event in Fayetteville, N.C., later in the day, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani defended Trump while introducing him. “What he meant by” his comment, Giuliani said, was that “you have the power to vote against” Clinton.
Later Tuesday, Trump appeared on Fox News, where he described the “strong, powerful movement” in the United States to protect the Second Amendment. “There can be no other interpretation,” he said. “Even reporters have told me. I mean, give me a break.”
Meanwhile, Clinton and her supporters on Capitol Hill and in the pro-gun-control community said they saw Trump’s words in a very different way.
“@realDonaldTrump makes death threats because he’s a pathetic coward who can’t handle the fact that he’s losing to a girl,” tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a regular Trump critic.
“This is simple — what Trump is saying is dangerous,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement. “A person seeking to be the President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.”
The campaign also quickly dashed off a fundraising solicitation after the episode, emailing supporters: “We don’t know how many children were watching him today, absorbing the kind of violence and hate that Trump is peddling.”
What may have been lost in the flap was the substance of Trump’s accusation against Clinton: that she wants to overturn the Second Amendment, and plans to appoint judges and justices to the federal judiciary who would help her do that.
“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment,” he said. “By the way, and if she gets to pick — if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
Clinton has never said she wants to eliminate the Second Amendment. Even if she did, neither the president nor the Supreme Court nor lower-level federal judges have the power to do so. There are two ways to alter the Constitution. One requires a two-thirds vote of Congress and then approval by three-fourths of the nation’s state legislatures. The other requires calling a constitutional convention and, again, approval by three-fourths of the states.
One common thread linking many of Trump’s more controversial comments and actions is that he denies having said or done them. Trump claimed never to have mocked a disabled New York Times reporter, despite a widely disseminated video clip showing him making jerking movements with his arms. He claimed that he never said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is not a war hero, despite a Q&A in which he said just that.
He said he never advocated intervention in Libya, though he did.
Trump also relies regularly on the turn of phrase “many people are saying” to make pronouncements without offering evidence backing them up.
On Monday, for instance, he tweeted: “Many people are saying that the Iranians killed the scientist who helped the U.S. because of Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails.”
“Mr. Trump’s tweets speak for themselves,” said Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks.
Trump and his allies often blame the media for misconstruing his words. The statement issued by his campaign after his Tuesday comments appeared under the heading: “Trump Campaign Statement On Dishonest Media.”
Sullivan reported from Washington. Abby Phillip in Austin, David Weigel in Washington and Jenna Johnson in Wilmington contributed to this report. ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| poster="https://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201608/1125/1155968404_5078138654001_5078121151001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Ryan: Trump guns remark 'sounds like a joke gone bad'
House Speaker Paul Ryan declined to join the criticism of Donald Trump over the GOP nominee’s casual aside Tuesday that gun owners might somehow take matters into their own hands to stop Hillary Clinton from appointing federal judges as president.
Speaking at a news conference Tuesday night in Wisconsin after his landslide win in a GOP primary, Ryan said he hadn't actually heard Trump's remarks but he had heard about them.
Story Continued Below
"I've been a little busy," Ryan said. "It sounds like a joke gone bad. You should never joke about that. I hope he clears it up quickly."
Trump sparked the latest uproar of his campaign earlier in the day when he veered off script during a rally.
“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment,” he said. “By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.”
Trump later said the comment wasn't meant as a joke. Blaming the media for manufacturing another controversy, he told CBS that his point was that gun owners should exert their collective voting power to stop Clinton from winning.
Ryan has called out Trump on several occasions in the past, including over his comments questioning the objectivity of a judge because of his Mexican descent, and over the nominee's call to bar Muslims from immigrating to the United States.
| – Donald Trump's campaign is once again on damage control, this time over remarks that critics say hinted at Hillary Clinton's assassination. His comment that "Second Amendment people" could "maybe" do something about Clinton picking Supreme Court justices if she wins was widely condemned Tuesday, though he insisted that he had been talking about the "strong, powerful" gun lobby using their political force, not their guns. "There can be no other interpretation," he told Fox News Tuesday night. "I mean, give me a break." A round-up of reactions: "The NRA and Donald Trump are calling for Second Amendment supporters to protect their constitutional right to self defense by defeating Hillary Clinton at the ballot box," NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker tells the Guardian, calling the controversy a "distraction created by the dishonest media." "Don't treat this as a political misstep. It's an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis," tweeted Connecticut's Sen. Chris Murphy, who is a strong proponent of gun control. Paul Ryan, speaking at his victory party in Wisconsin, said he hadn't heard the remarks, Politico reports. "I've been a little busy," he said. "It sounds like a joke gone bad. You should never joke about that. I hope he clears it up quickly." Trump "makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who can’t handle the fact that he’s losing to a girl," tweeted Elizabeth Warren. "Nobody who is seeking a leadership position—especially the presidency, the leadership of the country—should do anything to countenance violence, and that’s what he was saying," said Tim Kaine. "It seems like every single day the national press latches on to some other issue about my running mate," said Mike Pence. "But you know what they’re not talking about? Anything having to do with Hillary Clinton." The Secret Service tweeted that it "is aware of the comments made earlier this afternoon." Former CIA director Michael Hayden told CNN: "Well, let me say, if someone had have said that outside the hall he’d be in the back of a police wagon now with the Secret Service questioning him." The New York Times notes that Trump's remarks were condemned from across the political spectrum, with conservative writer John Podhoretz criticizing him for suggesting that Second Amendment supporters were "potential assassins." The Washington Post notes that the latest uproar has followed a very familiar pattern of attention-getting expressions, followed by outrage, followed by Trump lashing out at the media—and the cycle appears "to be taking a toll among the electorate overall." | [
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] |
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
Enlarge Image Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook
Instagram now has 500 million users.
This is a time for celebration. At least, for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
After all, his company owns the site where we're desperate to share pictures of our tacos and toenails.
Zuckerberg may not be so keen to share images of himself at work.
I deduce this from the picture that he posted to accompany his joy.
He appears to be sitting at his desk, holding a frame hurriedly provided by his PR people.
But, as the deeply observant Chris Olson pointed out on Twitter, his laptop appears to have its webcam taped over. His mic jack is covered over too.
Could it be that the man who encourages humanity to share, well, everything isn't so keen on its himself?
Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
As Gizmodo noticed, the desk does bear some resemblance to a Facebook Live tour of his desk that Zuckerberg gave last September.
Yes, Facebook Live. That's the company's latest wheeze to get you to be all-Facebook, all the time.
Taping up your webcam is an excellent precaution, should you worry that someone might hack into your laptop. FBI director James Comey recommends it.
When even high schools have been accused of spying on their students at home, simple archaic methods can create some security.
In Tuesday's Facebook post, Zuckerberg pays tribute to "people everywhere who have opened a window into their world."
It appears he accepts that there are times when your windows should remains shut and the drapes tightly drawn.
I wonder if he has special Zuck tape. ||||| Stickers and slides serve to ease concerns that spooks could be watching our every move, as even the FBI director says he puts tape on his camera
For the past half decade, the technology industry has been racing to build better cameras into the hardware we use every day.
Yet the surveillance age has inspired an odd cottage industry battling against this trend: a glut of cheap stickers and branded plastic slides designed to cover up the front-facing cameras on phones, laptops and even televisions.
For years, security researchers have shown that hackers can hijack the cameras to spy on whomever is on the other end. To put that in perspective, think of all the things your devices have seen you do.
Such warnings have finally caught on. Last month, the FBI director, James Comey, told an audience: “I put a piece of tape over the camera because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera.”
The corporate swag company Idea Stage Promotions describes its Webcam Cover 1.0 as “the HOTTEST PROMOTIONAL ITEM on the market today”. The cable channel USA Networks sent journalists a “Mr Robot” webcam cover for the popular hacker thriller’s upcoming season.
Christine Champagne (@itsthechampagne) This Mr. Robot webcam cover I got from @USA_Network is the most clever TV promo item I have received in a long time! pic.twitter.com/pBL3mcUsv9
Covering cameras isn’t new for those who know that the internet is always watching. Eva Galperin, a policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says that since she bought her first laptop with a built-in camera on the screen, a MacBook Pro, in 2007, she’s been covering them up.
EFF started printing its own webcam stickers in 2013, as well as selling and handing out camera stickers that read: “These removable stickers are an unhackable anti-surveillance technology.”
“People purchase these regularly,” a spokesman said.
The fear over web cameras has penetrated deep into popular culture. The trailer for Oliver Stone’s forthcoming biopic Snowden, on the US spy contractor, features a clip of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays the title character, looking nervously at his laptop camera during an intimate moment with his girlfriend.
So are we all being paranoid? Well, it’s not science fiction. Researchers in 2013 showed how they could activate a Macbook’s camera without triggering the green “this-thing-is-on” light. One couple claimed a hacker posted a video of them having sex after hacking their smart TV. And federal court records shows that the FBI does know how to use laptop cameras to spy on users as well.
So, naturally, where there’s fear, there is money to be made.
The DC-based CamPatch describes itself as “the Mercedes Bens [sic] of putting tape over your webcam”. Its founders started the company in 2013 after hearing a briefing from Pentagon cybersecurity experts on how webcams were a new “attack vector”, said Krystie Caraballo, CamPatch’s general manager.
Caraballo wouldn’t disclose financials other than to say the company has had “six-figure revenues for the last several years” and that it has distributed more than 250,000 patches. The company advertises bulk pricing “as low as $2.79”.
Yet not everyone is on the camera-covering bandwagon. Brian Pascal, a privacy expert who has worked for Stanford and Palantir Technologies says a cost-benefit analysis led him conclude he’d rather have a usable camera, which he can use to record his son. But he acknowledged such stickers are a way for people signal that they too worry about Big Brother.
“Security actions without threat modelling are just performative,” said Pascal.
Others just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
“Because I’m an idiot,” replied Matthew Green, an encryption expert at Johns Hopkins University when asked why he doesn’t cover his cameras. “I have no excuse for not taking this seriously ... but at the end of the day, I figure that seeing me naked would be punishment enough.”
Of course, webcam paranoia is likely to be only the first of many awakenings as consumers bring more devices into their lives that can be turned into unwitting spies. Amazon.com has had enormous success with its Echo smart speaker that, by default, is always listening for its owners’ commands. Google plans to release a similar product this year called Google Home.
In a hearing on Capitol Hill in February, the US director of national intelligence, James Clapper, acknowledged how the so-called “internet of things” could be used “for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials”. ||||| See more of Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook ||||| Why The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam
FBI Director James Comey gave a speech this week about encryption and privacy, repeating his argument that "absolute privacy" hampers law enforcement. But it was an offhand remark during the Q&A; session at Kenyon College that caught the attention of privacy activists:
The thought of the FBI chief taping over his webcam is an arresting one for many.
His comment Wednesday (which is around the 1:34:45 mark in this video) was in response to a question about growing public awareness of the ways technology can spy on people, and he acknowledged sharing in the surveillance anxiety.
"I saw something in the news, so I copied it. I put a piece of tape — I have obviously a laptop, personal laptop — I put a piece of tape over the camera. Because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera."
It's certainly not unreasonable to worry about webcams, especially for someone as high-profile as Comey. The FBI itself has used malware to hack into cameras to spy on targets.
For privacy activists, the real problem is what they see as Comey's hypocrisy. He says tech companies shouldn't make devices that are "unhackable" to law enforcement (the fight over the San Bernardino iPhone 5C being the major case in point), but the activists say that's exactly what he's done with his personal webcam.
Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist and a senior policy analyst with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, accused Comey of having a double standard for his own privacy:
He piled on with a little Twitter sarcasm:
It's worth noting that Comey made the webcam remark in the context of a larger comment about the need for the public to keep an eye on how government uses its surveillance powers. "[The public should] demand to know how the government conducts surveillance. Demand to know how they're overseen, how they're constrained. Demand to know how these devices work," he said.
But as the San Bernardino iPhone fight made clear, the privacy debate in the U.S. is no longer just about legal processes and judicial oversight. It's about whether unhackable devices should be allowed to exist, warrant or no warrant. And a taped-over webcam is about as unhackable as a device can get. ||||| Security experts supported the taping, for a few good reasons:
• The first is that Mr. Zuckerberg is a high-value target.
“I think Zuckerberg is sensible to take these precautions,” Graham Cluley, an online security expert and consultant, wrote in an email Wednesday. “As well as intelligence agencies and conventional online criminals who might be interested in targeting his billions, there are no doubt plenty of mischievous hackers who would find it amusing to spy upon such a high-profile figure.”
• The second is that covering photo, video and audio portals has long been a basic and cheap security safeguard.
“Covering the camera is a very common security measure,” Lysa Myers, a security researcher at the data security firm ESET, said in an email. “If you were to walk around a security conference, you would have an easier time counting devices that don’t have something over the camera.”
• Third, Mr. Zuckerberg is not immune to security breaches.
A recent hacking of his Twitter and LinkedIn accounts shows that he most likely committed two basic privacy faux pas: He may have used the same password across several websites and did not use two-factor authentication.
Judging from his photo, however, it appears that Mr. Zuckerberg was taking simple precautions to protect himself from anyone who may try to gain remote access. The practice is fairly technologically simple: Hackers trick people into clicking on links or unfamiliar websites containing malware that allows them access to the devices. ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| On Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a cutesy photo to Facebook celebrating Instagram’s now having half a billion users. It featured Zuck posing inside an IRL Instagram frame. It also featured, in the background, what we can assume is Zuck’s computer. And it features a couple of paranoid add-ons, as noted by Twitter user Chris Olson.
3 things about this photo of Zuck: Camera covered with tape
Mic jack covered with tape
Email client is Thunderbird pic.twitter.com/vdQlF7RjQt — Chris Olson (@topherolson) June 21, 2016
Indeed. His Macbook has tape on it.
One of these is well-placed tape; the other, not necessarily.
Putting tape over your webcam is a great idea and EVERYONE should do it. Even the FBI director does it. If a hacker manages to get into your computer, it will be hell for you, but this is a super simple way to keep them from taking photos of you, especially naked ones that could later be used to embarrass, harass or blackmail you. (It won’t prevent them from stealing existing photos from your computer, however, so make sure you’re encrypting your naked selfies.)
So, good job, Zuck. It almost makes us forgive your alleged mistake of using the password “dadada” on multiple accounts.
However, putting tape over your microphone jack is not going to be effective in making your computer hacker-proof. That’s just going to keep someone from plugging their headphones into your machine. If Olson is wrong, and Zuck has in fact put tape over the mic holes, though, that will muffle the computer’s hearing ability, per a test conducted in our office.
If you’re really paranoid and want to completely kill the omnidirectional microphone, you’d actually need to do some computer surgery.
“The paranoid people I know either cut the wire or use hot glue,” said ACLU technologist Chris Soghoian via Twitter direct message. Try at your own risk.
It’s more likely that Zuckerberg has tape over the mic holes, because tape alone over the mic jack is just going to make it annoying for you to listen to music privately, not make it impossible for hackers to listen to you. | – It was meant solely to be a celebratory post by Mark Zuckerberg about Instagram reaching the milestone of 500 million users. But as CNET reports, the Internet was far more interested in what Zuckerberg revealed inadvertently: His laptop is in the background, and it shows that Zuckerberg puts a piece of tape over its camera as an apparent security measure—to ward off hackers who might gain control of it remotely to spy on him. A Twitter user named Chris Olson seemed to be the first to spot it, tweeting on Tuesday that Zuckerberg also tapes over his microphone jack and uses a rather obscure email client from Mozilla called Thunderbird. (Some think it's actually a Cisco VPN client.) Reaction: Gizmodo: "Of course, it’s not insane that one of the most powerful people in the world is paranoid about being watched—but Zuckerberg better hope the legions of users his company is depending on for live video content don’t take a lesson from his book." New York Times: “Covering the camera is a very common security measure,” a security expert tells the newspaper. “If you were to walk around a security conference, you would have an easier time counting devices that don’t have something over the camera.” Fusion: Covering the camera is a wise idea. But "putting tape over your microphone jack is not going to be effective in making your computer hacker-proof. That’s just going to keep someone from plugging their headphones into your machine. If Olson is wrong, and Zuck has in fact put tape over the mic holes, though, that will muffle the computer’s hearing ability, per a test conducted in our office." NPR: The Zuckerberg story is prompting outlets to re-run this quote from FBI chief James Comey in April: “I put a piece of tape—I have obviously a laptop, personal laptop—I put a piece of tape over the camera. Because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera.” Also prior to the Zuckerberg story, the Guardian looked into the growing popularity of the idea. The Electronic Frontier Foundation even sells camera-covering stickers. | [
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] |
Chris Rock's 2009 documentary, Good Hair , focused attention on the trouble and expense many a black woman goes through in her quest for straight hair. "Have you ever put your hands through a black woman's hair?" Rock asks some guys in a barbershop . The response: "Hell no! Not a black woman's hair!" (Too expensive.) But extensions are "not a black or white thing or even a woman's thing," says Lori Tharps, coauthor of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America. She points to the recent admission by tennis star Andre Agassi that for much of his career his signature mullet was in fact a weave.
AS CO-OWNER of the Grooming Room on Brooklyn's Nostrand Avenue , a street so dense with beauty outlets that it almost seems zoned for that purpose, Tiffany Brown is a high priestess of the do. When I first met her yesterday, her face was framed by closely cropped bangs and tresses hanging to her chin. Today she looks altogether different, with hair pulled tight against her scalp into a ponytail just an inch long. Tomorrow, it might well be glamorous locks cascading down her back. The secret of Brown's chameleon powers: extensions made from human hair. It's "a necessary accessory, like earrings or a necklace," she says. "It lets me be whoever I want to be for a day." Her clients feel the same way; they spend about $400 a month maintaining their extensions, she says, though a few drop thousands. Between shops like hers and celebs who might shell out $10,000 or more for a single wig or weave , the demand adds up to a $900 million global trade in human hair—not counting installation.
In any case, those seeking a high-end look know what to ask for. It's called "remy" hair, which is more or less synonymous with hair from India. Top salons prize it for the way it's collected, in a single cut, which preserves the orientation of the hair's shingle-like outer layer, and thus its strength, luster, and feel. That's what defines remy, and that's the reason it commands a premium price. "If you want cheap hair," sniffs one supplier's blog, "you're going to get a cheap looking hairstyle." Beyoncé wears remy hair, as do Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, and any Hollywood starlet who's been within a mile of a first-class weave. "The only hair worth buying is remy," says one of Brown's clients, her hair wrapped around enormous curlers. "They say that it's cut from the heads of virgins."
VIRGINS, CHECK. But also mothers, fathers, little kids, and not-so-pure American reporters. To see the whole process up close and personal, I have traveled to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, a sprawling Hindu temple in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Tirumala is the planet's top supplier of remy hair and point of origin for at least 30 percent of the Indian trade, a fact that doesn't seem to bother devotees of the resident god Venkateswara—an incarnation of Vishnu.
A throng of ripe humanity presses me through a series of wrought-iron gates and into the Kalyana Katta, the temple's tonsuring center. As we inch slowly toward the inner sanctum, cracked concrete floors give way to cool white tiles. After 15 minutes, a uniformed man hands us paper tokens imprinted with a bar code and a picture of Venkateswara. The next official I encounter, clad in a stained brown shirt, hands over two razor blades: one for my head, one for my throat.
The crowd of men and women proceeds down a wide staircase whose landing is covered in a soggy mixture of tepid water and black hairballs. The air is moist and smells of rancid coconut oil. The stairs end at a vast, tiled chamber resembling a neglected Olympic swimming facility, where long lines of men face tiled benches running along the walls. (Women are herded into a separate room.) In the center are four massive steel vats.
I match my token code—MH1293—to a sign on the wall, then take my place in a queue of about 50 bare-chested men in black sarongs. The pilgrim at the head of the line bows low as a man with a straight razor makes swift work of his curls. Satisfied, the barber looks up, spots me, and beckons me forward. He has a ragged cloth tied around his waist over white striped boxer shorts. No high priest, clearly. Just a worker bee for the holy hive.
I assume the position as he fixes my blades to the razor handle. "Start praying," he says. I try to remember the god's face, but there's no time to contemplate: The man forces my head downward and runs the blade down from the top of my head with the practiced efficiency of a sheepherder. Satisfied, he grabs my chin, sticking a thumb in my mouth as he prepares to dispense with my beard. I watch the brown hair fall away in clumps, joining the dark, wet mash underfoot.
The curly-haired guy, like me, is now bald, with small nicks in his scalp and pink streaks of blood dripping down his back. He meets my eyes and smiles broadly. "Venkateswara will be pleased." His wife is offering her hair in the other room. Together they will return to their village bearing a symbol of humility and devotion that all will recognize.
A woman in a blue sari flashes by and scoops my hair from the gutter into a bucket. Each time her bucket fills, she stands on her tiptoes and empties it into one of the tall vats. By day's end all four will be filled with hair destined for the auction block.
Name-dropped in the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata, Tirumala is holy ground for 50,000 pilgrims who arrive daily from across South Asia to seek favors from their god. In addition to monetary donations, about one in four offer their hair, which will then be offered to the gods of the marketplace, reaping a reported $10 million to $15 million each year. Including donations, the temple boasts that it takes in more money than the Vatican—a dubious claim. In any case, temple leaders announced a plan last October to plate the walls of the sanctum sanctorum with gold. (Profits from the hair, according to the temple website, are used to support temple programs and feed the needy.)
Indian hair is sold to two distinct markets. The bulk of it, some 500 tons per year from short-haired men like me, is purchased by chemical companies that use it to make fertilizer or L-cysteine, an amino acid that gives hair its strength and is used in baked goods and other products. The more lucrative hair of female pilgrims—temple employees call it "black gold"—is tied in individual bundles and brought to the tonsuring center's top floor, where women in cheap flower-print saris labor over small heaps of the stuff, sorting it by length. An armed guard frisks all who exit. There's no way anyone is going to get past him with a single precious strand.
Human hair contains all sorts of secretions, including sweat and blood, plus food particles, lice, and the coconut oil many Indians use as a conditioner. Put 21 tons of the stuff in a room blooming with mildew and fungus and the stench is overpowering. One volunteer, her own long hair bound in a tight braid, appears to smile at me, but she's wearing a scrap of cloth over her nose and mouth, so she might be grimacing. It's difficult to imagine that bits of this foul-smelling heap may one day adorn the heads of American pop stars.
THE REINCARNATION of temple hair as a beauty accessory started out as a relatively humble affair. Until the early 1960s, the temple simply burned the hair it collected. (Citing pollution, the government banned the practice during the 1990s.) Then wig makers began seeking raw materials at Tirumala. At the temple's first auction, in 1962, the hair sold for 16 rupees a kilo—about $24.50 in today's dollars. Now it fetches up to 10 times as much, and the auctions have become cutthroat affairs.
To check it out, I drive a few miles to the bustling town of Tirupati, where the temple's marketing unit operates out of a string of warehouses filled with drying hair. In a large boardroom, Indian traders representing 44 companies are crowded around tables, prepared to drop millions of dollars in a complicated process of backroom negotiations. "The hair business is unlike any other," says Vijay, who owns a hair-exporting house called Shabanesa, and like many South Indians goes by a single name. "In any other business, buying a commodity is easy; it's the selling it to retailers that is difficult. Here it's all reversed. It's simple to sell hair, just difficult to buy it."
Tensions are running particularly high today. The temple is pressing for a higher price than last year's, and traders are worried that the global economic meltdown will batter the extensions market. Halfway through the evening India's largest hair reseller—K.K. Gupta, whose Gupta Enterprises did a brisk $49 million in sales in 2008—accuses the temple directors of trying to set an inflated price and walks out. After an hour, which Gupta spends in the parking lot making calls and threatening to go to the papers, the price is set slightly lower. Then another reseller loudly charges that Gupta is trying to corner the market. A muscular bidder has to step in to prevent fisticuffs.
Another three hours and it's approaching midnight. The price for the longest and most durable product hovers around $193 per kilo ($70 less than last year, I'm told). Over the next few days trucks will deliver the hair to the distributors, where the alchemy of transforming human waste into a luxury product takes place.
SOME EIGHTY-FIVE MILES from the auction site, on an industrial lot on the outskirts of the coastal metropolis of Chennai, George Cherian, chairman of Raj Impex, one of India's largest hair-export houses, awaits his delivery. The hair must be checked for lice, painstakingly untangled, washed in vats of detergent, and combed until it's of export quality. "The real value of what we do is right here, when we grade the hair and transform it from waste into something beautiful," Cherian says. He pulls out a handful of smoothed hair the size of a riding crop, noting that it will fetch $15 on the international market.
The bulk of hair sold in India isn't tonsured, he notes—it comes from garbage bins, the floors of barber shops, and the combs of long-haired women. Nomadic families and small businesses go door-to-door bartering hair clips, rubber bands, and trinkets for it. "This work supports tens of thousands of people across India in cottage sorting and collecting industries," Cherian says. "The rule is simple: Remy hair goes to the US, the rest goes to Africa."
In a storage room, he shows me 400 kilos of hair packed in boxes and bound for cities throughout the world. His warehouse contains several tons more, ready to ship. "The demand is huge," Cherian says, "but I don't think that anyone outside of India would ever be able to do this. We survive because of the cheap labor. No one in Italy, or California, could prepare the hair for less."
California, in fact, is where a good deal of the hair ends up—mostly in places like Oakland's Glamour Beauty Supply, where three rows of human-hair wigs sit on Styrofoam heads behind the counter. China Bullock, a fiery 24-year-old Denny's waitress with bangs the color of cherry soda, is looking at nonremy extensions, which are $21 a pack—a splurge considering that you need two for a proper do. She can't resist asking about remy, but when the shopkeeper points out the price—$120 per pack—Bullock recoils. "It's way cuter," she laments, settling instead for two $12 packs of synthetic hair. Maybe one day, she says, she'll be able to afford the real thing. ||||| The Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala, India, had a problem.
Thirty to forty million pilgrims visit the temple each year, and in a gesture of humility and sacrifice, 10% to 25% of them, men and women both, have their heads shaven. Every day, the Venkateswara Temple staff fills giant vats with human hair, and for a long time, its staff burned thousands of pounds of hair—a noxious process that produces toxic gases like ammonia and was eventually banned by the Indian government in the 1990s.
By then, however, they had discovered a new way to get rid of the hair: sell it for millions.
When fashion companies make wigs—and when stylists tape or weave hair extensions into customers’ hair in salons—they want to use real human hair. To get it, they rely on places like the Venkateswara Temple, which sells its hair in annual auctions. In 2014, fashion companies bid almost $12 million for what temple employees call “black gold.”
The Tirumala Temple auction is part of a multi-billion dollar market for human hair—a global endeavor that includes collecting long locks to make fashionable hairpieces and its more industrial counterpart of turning hair into fertilizers, stuffing for clothes, and even amino acids used in pizza dough.
Nearly everyone has hair they discard without a thought. Yet it can also be one of the world’s most precious resources, and businesses can’t get enough of it.
From Tirumala to the Salon
A quality wig made of human hair sells for thousands of dollars in the United States, and hair extensions made of real hair can sell for several hundred or thousand dollars. But it takes a lot of work to turn the hair of Venkateswara pilgrims into a luxury product.
When companies buy hair from the temple for as much as $700 per pound, it contains sweat, blood, and lice. The temple warehouses reek from mildew and fungus. Investigative journalist Scott Carney visited Tirumala and called the hair a “foul-smelling heap.” As 600 barbers each shave a head every 5 minutes, they leave bloody scalps and hair balls littering the floor.
It takes someone in the industry to recognize why the hair is so valuable. Only long women’s hair is sold at auction—the temple sells men’s hair at a pittance for industrial uses—and since many pilgrims come from humble, rural towns, they have not used shampoos or styled and treated their hair in ways that damage it.
The Venkateswara Temple. Photo by Chandrashekhar Basumatary
To transform the best (longest) hair from trash into treasure, teams of workers untangle the hair, sort it by length, pick out lice and other particles, wash and dry it, and dye it a variety of colors. Companies then either ship the hair out to salons where stylists will sew, tape, or bond the extensions into customers’ hair, or sew the hair into wigs.
The process is incredibly labor intensive. “To make a high-end wig,” says Mo Hefnawy of Lori’s Wigsite, one of many retailers of wigs made by Indian and Chinese manufacturers, “someone sat there with a needle and sewed a few hairs at a time. It takes 3 or 4 days.”
Retailers like Lori’s Wigsite sell wigs made of fake, synthetic hair, and they cost $250 where a human hair wig would cost $1,500. But synthetic wigs don’t last as long, can’t be styled, and look and feel less natural. Most people want wigs made of real hair, Hefnawy says, but Lori’s sells more synthetic wigs than human hair wigs because they are more affordable.
The majority of Lori’s customers suffer hair loss from chemotherapy or conditions like alopecia. A minority are religious women who buy wigs as an alternative to modestly hiding their hair, and some older men and women buy wigs to cover thinning hair.
For the moment, though, hair extensions are increasingly popular among young women who want to quickly change their hairstyle or buy the long, thick hair celebrated in shampoo commercials. Among other celebrities, Victoria Beckham, Beyonce, and Kylie Jenner of Kardashian fame are known for wearing extensions.
Prices have increased with popularity. In several burglaries of hair salons, thieves ignored cash registers and went straight for hair extensions worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When nonprofits like Locks of Love ask people to donate their hair (to make hairpieces for children suffering from hair loss), they are not asking because long hair is hard to find. The human hair market is well established, and anyone can go online and instantly order hair by the pound.
Locks of Love asks for donations because hair is so expensive that many patients can’t afford thousand dollar wigs.
The Secret Life of Hair
The market for human hair has always been a mechanism for getting hair from people in poor areas to those who need or want it in wealthier ones.
History is full of examples of human hair being treated as a valuable commodity. Archeologists have discovered human hair wigs held together with resin and beeswax in Ancient Egyptian tombs. Upper class men in 18th century Europe wore long periwigs made of human or horse hair, and thieves commonly worked in teams to steal and resell them. An observer of an annual “hair harvest” in a poor Italian village in the 19th century described seeing girls “sheared, one after the other, like sheep.” Their hair went to Parisian markets that sold 200,000 pounds of human hair each year.
A hair theft in progress
The difference today is that the market has changed with globalization. Hair does not move from provincial Europe to capital cities; it moves from poor countries to wealthy ones. The vast majority of hair and hair products come from India and China and are sold in the United States and Europe.
In the hair industry, no one bothers to equally celebrate each and every person’s hair. For them, hair is a product, and the way they talk about hair reflects economic and social realities—and made us squirm.
“Indian hair is best,” retailers and manufacturers told us without hesitation. They cite the strength of Indian hair and how plentiful it is thanks to places like the Venkateswara Temple. But its most valuable attribute is that it closely resembles caucasian hair. “Oriental hair is used,” one industry expert bluntly added, “because there is a lot of it.”
Hair flows from poor countries to rich countries, but when a woman with blond hair is willing to sell her hair, the market pays incredibly well. Destitute Russian women regularly sell their blond hair for fifty to several hundred dollars. Mo Hefnawy says he knows a young woman whom wig makers flew out from Indiana and paid $1,500 for her hair, which they made into an $8,000 wig.
Africa also bucks global trends: despite the prevalence of poverty in many countries, Africa is an importer of hair. Elaborate wigs may no longer separate royalty from commoners, but hair has not lost its political and economic relevance.
Projects like My Nappy Roots and Good Hair have explored the efforts that black people, especially women, go through to style their hair, and in particularly the time and expense of straightening their curly hair—often with the help of hair extensions. Responding to this question of why “women adopt a concept of ‘beauty’ that is not based on the natural characteristics of their hair,” Al Sharpton says in Good Hair, “We wear our economic oppression on our heads."
As a result, hair extensions and products are popular among African Americans and wealthy Africans, but hair traders have little interest in black hair.
Collecting Hair at Scale
If you ask people in the industry where they get human hair, they talk about temples in China and India like the Venkateswara Temple.
It’s no surprise they do; collecting hair from pilgrims is an elegant solution to manufacturers’ need for human hair. Shaving one’s head is a traditional, voluntary practice that avoids the exploitive undertones of desperate women selling their hair. Most pilgrims don’t know that the temple sells their hair. But we have not seen reports of religious leaders pocketing millions. The temple administrators have used the proceeds on gold wall panelling for the temple, but they say they primarily spend the money on charitable endeavors like feeding the needy and running hospitals.
Yet only a minority of hair comes from temples. In India, a regional Minister for Textiles and Commerce told The Guardian, “all the Indian temples together contribute only 20 out of every 100 locks of premium hair sold abroad.” The Minister added, “Where the rest comes from, we have no idea.” Retailers and wholesale providers we spoke to voiced similar uncertainty.
We do know that collecting hair is a large, decentralized undertaking that employs tens of thousands of people in India alone. Barber shops and salons collect and sell hair—both long hair sold to fashion companies and short hair sold cheaply to be used as stuffing, fertilizer, or, once broken down into component chemicals, in industrial uses ranging from food to pharmaceuticals. Waste pickers scrounge hair from trash and dumpsters. Hair traders visit villages—in a slum outside Chennai, a bell announces a trader’s arrival—to buy hair with either cash or trinkets and hair accessories.
The traders may buy hair that women have collected from combs and brushes, or the scenes may resemble the shearing of 19th century Italian villagers. No one can say exactly how often, but hair is not always sold willingly. Press has reported on husbands who receive $10 for their wives’ hair. One Indian woman told The Guardian, “I was held down by a gang of men who hacked at my hair… the police don't care, they will do nothing to protect women.” In Russia, prison wardens have admitted to forcibly cutting female inmates’ hair in order to sell it.
Whether it’s people scrounging hair from dumpsters or men forcing women to give up their hair, the hair business can be a dirty one.
*****
So far, the hair industry has not had its ethically-sourced moment.
American customers are typically unconcerned about the origins of extensions, the founder of a hair extensions trade group told the New York Times, other than to ask if they are hygienic. For retailers and manufacturers, the demand for hair makes it a financial necessity not to ask too many questions.
"The hair business is unlike any other," the owner of an Indian hair-exporting business told journalist Scott Carney. "In any other business, buying a commodity is easy; it's the selling it to retailers that is difficult. Here it's all reversed. It's simple to sell hair, just difficult to buy it."
Better synthetic hair is coming. As China and India’s economic growth has reduced poverty, hair donors have been harder to find, which has increased prices and pushed companies to research alternatives. In the last 5 years, Mo Hefnawy of Lori’s Wigsite tells us, progress has been made on making synthetic wigs thicker and more heat-resistant. “I’d give it a few more years and they will have it,” he says.
Until then, though, a resource everyone has growing on the top of their head will remain a secretively lucrative commodity.
Our next post explores why the heck the concept of "sister cities" is so popular. To get notified when we post it → join our email list.
This post was written by Alex Mayyasi. You can follow him on Twitter at @amayyasi. | – In the US, women and girls sometimes donate their hair to groups that make wigs—think Locks of Love—not because hair is hard to come by but because it is so expensive. But many also buy wigs and extensions made of real human hair—and chances are good that hair comes from countries like India and China, where women sell their long locks out of necessity. It's a dirty business, reports Alex Mayyasi for Priceonomics, both literally and figuratively. In India, for instance, sites like the Venkateswara Temple do quite a business selling hair (though they say they donate the proceeds to charities) because it is customary for pilgrims who visit the temple to have their heads shaved. Most are unaware their hair is sold. The workers who then sort through the discarded locks must contend with blood from the quickly-shaved scalps, lice, and more, and the factories reek. As Scott Carney wrote in his 2010 report for Mother Jones, "Put 21 tons of the stuff in a room blooming with mildew and fungus and the stench is overpowering." Most say hair from India is the best; Mayyasi writes that Indian pilgrims typically haven't performed damaging treatments on their hair, "but its most valuable attribute is that it closely resembles caucasian hair." There's a dark side to the trade, and not just the flow of hair from poor women giving up their long locks for wealthy buyers. There are stories of men beating and holding down women to shave their heads for money. Wigs made of real hair can easily cost thousands of dollars, though synthetic hair—which just doesn't look as natural and can't be styled—continues to improve and is far less expensive, so it may only be a matter of time before the market for the real thing dwindles considerably. (Lady Gaga says she wears wigs to cover up her pain.) | [
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This image provided by the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India in January 2018 shows a sample of artifacts from the Middle Palaeolithic era found at the Attirampakkam archaeological site in southern... (Associated Press)
This image provided by the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India in January 2018 shows a sample of artifacts from the Middle Palaeolithic era found at the Attirampakkam archaeological site in southern India. The discovery of stone tools at the site shows a style that has been associated elsewhere... (Associated Press)
This image provided by the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India in January 2018 shows a sample of artifacts from the Middle Palaeolithic era found at the Attirampakkam archaeological site in southern India. The discovery of stone tools at the site shows a style that has been associated elsewhere... (Associated Press) This image provided by the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India in January 2018 shows a sample of artifacts from the Middle Palaeolithic era found at the Attirampakkam archaeological site in southern... (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — Just a week after scientists reported evidence that our species left Africa earlier than we thought, another discovery is suggesting the date might be pushed back further.
Homo sapiens arose in Africa at least 300,000 years ago and left to colonize the globe. Scientists think there were several dispersals from Africa, not all equally successful. Last week's report of a human jaw showed some members of our species had reached Israel by 177,000 to 194,000 years ago.
Now comes a discovery in India of stone tools, showing a style that has been associated elsewhere with our species. They were fashioned from 385,000 years ago to 172,000 years ago, showing evidence of continuity and development over that time. That starting point is a lot earlier than scientists generally think Homo sapiens left Africa.
This tool style has also been attributed to Neanderthals and possibly other species. So it's impossible to say whether the tools were made by Homo sapiens or some evolutionary cousin, say researchers who reported the finding Wednesday in the journal Nature .
"We are very cautious on this point" because no human fossils were found with the tools, several authors added in a statement.
It's not clear how much the tool development reflects arrival of populations or ideas from outside India, versus being more of a local development, said one author, Shanti Pappu of the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education in Chennai, India.
The tool-making style was a change from older stone tools found at the site, featuring a shift to smaller flakes, for example.
Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist who specializes in human evolution in Asia but didn't participate in the work, said he did not think the tools show that our species had left Africa so long ago.
"I simply don't buy it," said Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany.
Instead, he said, he believes one of our evolutionary cousins in India developed the tool style independently of outside influence. The tools at the site northwest of Chennai in southeastern India are closely related to the older tool-making style there and seem to represent a transition, he said.
The idea that they reflect knowledge brought in from elsewhere would be tough to prove in India, he said. The country has few well-studied archaeological sites and only one fossil find from this period, from a forerunner of Homo sapiens that was associated with the earlier style of tool-making, Petraglia said.
___
Follow Malcolm Ritter at @MalcolmRitter . His recent work can be found here. ||||| Discovery In India Suggests An Early Global Spread Of Stone Age Technology
Enlarge this image toggle caption Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India/Nature Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India/Nature
Somewhere around 300,000 years ago, our human ancestors in parts of Africa began to make small, sharp tools, using stone flakes that they created using a technique called Levallois.
The technology, named after a suburb of Paris where tools made this way were first discovered, was a profound upgrade from the bigger, less-refined tools of the previous era, and marks the Middle Stone Age in Africa and the Middle Paleolithic era in Europe and western Asia.
Neanderthals in Europe also used these tools around the same time. And scientists have thought that the technology spread to other parts of the globe much later — after modern humans moved out of Africa.
But scientists in India recently discovered thousands of stone tools made with Levallois technique, dating back to 385,000 years ago. These latest findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, suggest the Levallois technique spread across the world long before researchers previously thought.
The Indian team uncovered these tools at one of India's best known archaeological sites — Attirampakkam, which is located near the present-day city of Chennai in southern India.
"It has a very, very long history of occupation of different prehistoric cultures in this one site," says Shanti Pappu, an archaeologist at the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education in Chennai and one of the lead authors of the new study.
The oldest artifacts from the site — big hand axes and cleavers — date back all the way to 1.5 million years ago, and are associated with the older Acheulian culture of the Early Stone Age.
The more recent tools, which date between 385,000 to 172,000 years ago, are small and clearly made with Levallois technique; it relies on first creating a starter stone in the shape of a turtle shell, then hitting that preformed stone to create a flake with sharp edges.
The flakes were used as knives and scrapers, scientists say; the technique gave the toolmakers more control over the size and shape of the tool.
"It's a very specific technology, very clearly identifiable and very similar to what you see in Africa," says Pappu.
The more than 7,000 artifacts discovered at the site run counter to what's been the prevailing theory about when the technology first reached the region.
"It was believed that this particular cultural or behavioral package perhaps came to India about 125,000 years ago, by modern humans dispersing out of Africa," says Pappu. Another hypothesis suggested that the technology came even later to India, around 70,000 years ago.
"The findings of this paper clearly knock those ideas out of the water," says paleoanthropologist Rick Potts, the head of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, who wasn't involved in the study. "It has to be earlier."
"This is a marvelous discovery," says Michael Petraglia, at the Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, who also had no role in the recent research. "It fills a very important gap in our knowledge of cultural history of humans in South Asia between 400,000 to 175,000 years ago."
The team in India found no human or hominin fossils at the site, which makes it hard to know what ancestral human species lived here and made these tools.
"It's a whodunit, and we don't have the answer," Potts says.
The authors think it could have been modern humans, Homo sapiens, who moved out of Africa much earlier than currently believed, and brought this technology with them.
Or, they say, a more ancestral hominin might have developed the technology independently in India.
Petraglia thinks it's the latter, since there's no fossil evidence anywhere in India suggesting that modern humans arrived there earlier. However, fossil evidence does hint, he says, that a more ancestral human species — Homo heidelbergensis — lived on the subcontinent and used some of the older Acheulian technologies.
And, given that the Acheulian and Levallois technologies partially overlap at this site, "I see that as continuity in the archaeological record of India, rather than as an external influence," says Petraglia.
"It looks like the Neanderthals of Europe and the near East, as well as the ancestors of Homo sapiens in Africa developed this ... Levallois technique independently of one another," says Potts. It might have developed independently in South Asia as well. "We're familiar in history of independent inventions of things like the calendar in different parts of the world."
Potts says what excites him most about the new finding is that it places India prominently on the map of human innovation and toolmaking.
"It raises a question that all archaeologists should be asking right now," he says. "What else was going on in India and how prominent was it in the story of human origins?" | – Just a week after scientists reported evidence that our species left Africa earlier than we thought, another discovery is suggesting the date might be pushed back further. Homo sapiens arose in Africa at least 300,000 years ago and left to colonize the globe. Scientists think there were several dispersals from Africa, not all equally successful. Last week's report of a human jaw showed some members of our species had reached Israel by 177,000 to 194,000 years ago. Now comes a discovery in India of stone tools, showing a style that has been associated elsewhere with our species. They were fashioned from 385,000 years ago to 172,000 years ago, showing evidence of continuity and development over that time. That starting point is a lot earlier than scientists generally think Homo sapiens left Africa. This tool style has also been attributed to Neanderthals and possibly other species. So it's impossible to say whether the tools were made by Homo sapiens or some evolutionary cousin, say researchers who reported the finding Wednesday in the journal Nature. "We are very cautious on this point" because no human fossils were found with the tools, several authors added in a statement, per the AP. Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist who specializes in human evolution in Asia but didn't participate in the work, said he did not think the tools show that our species had left Africa so long ago. "I simply don't buy it." Instead, he said, he believes one of our evolutionary cousins in India developed the tool style independently. "It's a whodunit, and we don't have the answer," a paleoanthropologist not involved with the study tells NPR. | [
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] |
The first open enrollment season of Obamacare ended at midnight Monday, a day that saw millions of Americans click onto Obamacare sign-up portals, dial into call centers and stand in long lines at assistance sites nationwide. The huge surge made it increasingly likely that enrollment would hit 7 million, the finish line that seemed out of reach during much of the often rocky six-month period.
Shortly after 10 p.m., the Associated Press cited two sources that said sign-ups were “on track” to hit 7 million. Administration officials wouldn’t confirm the number but said that signs were pointing in that direction.
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The HealthCare.Gov website took down enrollment forms just after midnight and displayed a new message that will transition people into a “special enrollment” period.
“Don’t worry,” it said. “We’ll still help you get the coverage you need for this year.”
(CARTOONS: Matt Wuerker on Obamacare)
Federal health officials said the site would reappear in a new guise Tuesday morning with instructions for post-March 31 sign-ups. Those will be open to people who self-report that they tried to make the deadline but failed. Depending on how long special enrollment goes on, enrollment numbers could still rise significantly.
The last official day of the Obamacare coverage push was hit by a double whammy of new HealthCare.gov glitches that caused confusion and delay. The federal website was down for six hours early Monday morning. Then it was up. Then it activated its “virtual waiting room.” Then it blocked newcomers from creating accounts.
Then it was working again, with officials reporting more than 1.6 million visitors by 2 p.m. and more than 3 million by 8 p.m. State exchanges reported similar surges. The federal site queued visitors when traffic rose, offering them a chance to get an email notification when the site would be less congested. It held through the night, despite the crush of visitors.
(WATCH: Timeline of Obamacare deadlines)
State-run exchanges are also giving grace periods to people who started but didn’t finish. Some have set stricter criteria for the extensions than others.
The technical problems, a flashback to HealthCare.gov’s botched launch last October, weren’t the focus the White House wanted as it tried to spur more Americans to be part of the late enrollment momentum. The intensity and tone of the White House messaging over these last days had evoked a confident turnout push on the eve of a close election. Suddenly it was about the glitchy website once again.
But as the day wore on, the final surge kept growing — although it will be some time before it is known precisely how many of these people will finalize their enrollment by paying their premiums, how many were previously uninsured, and, perhaps most important, how many end up liking their new coverage well enough to help Democrats construct a counter narrative.
(Also on POLITICO: The Obamacare enthusiasm gap)
Numerous polls show the law remains controversial and unpopular, and the Republicans have steadily blamed the Affordable Care Act for harming the economy, raising costs, killing jobs and depriving people of access to doctors of their choice. Even some moderate Democrats, facing tough reelection fights, want to change aspects of the four-year-old law.
Administration officials again hit the road and the airwaves Monday, touting the benefits of subsidized health insurance and celebrating the historic sign-up momentum. President Barack Obama was in Italy and Saudi Arabia last week and hasn’t given enrollment an in-person nudge since his return. But the White House released humorous photos of him and first lady Michelle Obama and even the family dogs Bo and Sunny urging everyone to get covered.
Vice President Joe Biden appeared on the “Rachael Ray Show,” talking health care — and skin care. “I think everyone is going to be surprised and pleased at how this has turned out,” the ever-garrulous vice president said in pre-recorded comments that sounded discordant against the surprise headlines about website woes. Later, Biden went to a school in Washington where people were getting help with their applications and thanked everyone.
“You are going to be better off for it. The country is going to be better off for it. So thank you,” he told them.
Enrollment had surpassed the revised 6 million threshold as of last Wednesday. ||||| As the clock ticks down on open enrollment for new coverage options under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that six in ten of the uninsured are unaware of the March 31 deadline to sign up for coverage. When reminded of the deadline and the fine for not getting covered, half of those who lack coverage as of mid-March say they plan to remain uninsured. Meanwhile, four in ten of the uninsured are still unaware of the law’s subsidies to help lower-income Americans purchase coverage, and half don’t know about the law’s expansion of Medicaid. Among the public overall, general opinion of the ACA moved in a more positive direction this month for the first time since November’s post-rollout negative shift in opinion. While unfavorable views of the law continue to outpace favorable ones, the gap between negative and positive views now stands at eight percentage points, down from 16 percentage points in January. Four years after the ACA’s passage, a little over half the public says they are tired of hearing the national debate over the law and want the country to focus more on other things, while four in ten say it’s important for the debate to continue. At the same time, six in ten want Congress to keep the law in place and either leave it as is or work to improve it, while three in ten would prefer to see it either repealed and replaced with a Republican alternative or repealed and not replaced.
Most uninsured unaware of March 31 deadline, half plan to remain uninsured
In the final days of open enrollment for new health insurance options under the ACA, substantial shares of the uninsured remain unaware of the law’s individual mandate and the looming deadline to sign up for coverage. A third of those who lack coverage as of mid-March are unaware that the law requires nearly all Americans to have health insurance or pay a fine. When it comes to the specifics, four in ten of the uninsured (39 percent) are aware that the deadline to sign up for coverage is at the end of March, leaving about six in ten unaware of the March deadline.
When reminded of the mandate and the deadline, half of those without coverage as of mid-March say they think they will remain uninsured, while four in ten expect to obtain coverage and one in ten are unsure.
A third (33 percent) of the uninsured say they have tried to get insurance for themselves in the past 6 months, including 18 percent who report attempting to get coverage through a health insurance marketplace, 14 percent from Medicaid, and 13 percent directly from a private insurance company. Still, the large majority – 67 percent – say they have not attempted to get coverage.
FIGURE 2: One-Third Of Uninsured Report Trying To Get Coverage In Past 6 Months AMONG THE UNINSURED AGES 18-64: Have you tried to get insurance for yourself in the past 6 months, or not? [If yes: From which of the following sources have you tried to get health insurance?] Yes, have tried to get insurance in past 6 months 33% Through the health insurance marketplace set up under the health care law* 18 From Medicaid* 14 Directly from a private insurance company* 13 From an employer* 9 From some other source* 2 No, have not tried to get insurance 67 * Multiple responses allowed
While some report trying to get coverage from new options available under the ACA, large shares of the uninsured remain unaware of two of the law’s key provisions that could help them get coverage. About half the uninsured are unaware that the ACA gives states the option of expanding their Medicaid programs, and more than four in ten don’t know that it provides financial help to low- and moderate-income individuals to help them purchase coverage. Despite extensive campaigns in media and on the ground attempting to get them enrolled, just one in nine (11 percent) of the uninsured say they have been personally contacted by anyone about the health care law through a phone call, email, text message, or door-to-door visit.
FIGURE 3: Awareness Of Key ACA Provisions Among The Uninsured AMONG THE UNINSURED AGES 18-64: To the best of your knowledge, would you say the health reform law does or does not do each of the following? CORRECT INCORRECT Yes No Don’t Know/Refused Require nearly all Americans to have health insurance or else pay a fine 66% 24% 10% Provide financial help to low and moderate income Americans who don’t get insurance through their jobs to help them purchase coverage 57 32 11 Give states the option of expanding their existing Medicaid program to cover more low-income, uninsured adults 49 33 19
Gap between unfavorable and favorable views shrinks this month, including among uninsured
As the ACA turns four years old, overall public opinion on the law shifted in a more positive direction this month, though unfavorable views still outnumber favorable ones. In March, 46 percent say they have an unfavorable view of the law (down 4 percentage points since January), while 38 percent say they have a favorable view (up 4 percentage points since January). The gap between unfavorable and favorable views is now eight percentage points, down from a recent high of 16 points in November and January.
When those who view the law favorably are asked to say in their own words why they like the law, the most common reason by far is that it will expand access to health care and health insurance (61 percent), followed far behind by a perception that it will make health care more affordable and control costs (10 percent), and that it will be good for the country and people in general (7 percent). Open-ended reasons for unfavorable views are more widely dispersed, the most common being concerns about costs (23 percent), opposition to the individual mandate (17 percent), and concerns about government overreach (10 percent).
FIGURE 5: In Their Own Words: Reasons For Favorable Views AMONG THE 38% WHO HAVE A FAVORABLE VIEW: Could you tell me in your own words what is the main reason you have a favorable opinion of the health reform law? Category Percent Mentioning Quotes Expanding access to care and insurance 61% “Because it allows people without insurance the ability to get insurance.�? “Because a lot of people who otherwise would not have insurance will now have it.�? “Because I am able to keep my health insurance with my parents until age 26.�? Will make health care more affordable/control costs/lower costs 10 “Because it makes health insurance affordable for people without insurance.�? “Because I think the health care system was too costly and the affordable health care act will cut costs.�? Country/people will be better off generally 7 “It makes health care better for Americans.�? “it is beneficial to the general public.�?
FIGURE 6: In Their Own Words: Reasons For Unfavorable Views AMONG THE 46% WHO HAVE AN UNFAVORABLE VIEW: Could you tell me in your own words what is the main reason you have an unfavorable opinion of the health reform law? Category Percent Mentioning Quotes Cost concerns 23% “It’s too expensive for regular people.�? “it’s costing too much money. It’s supposed to help people with low incomes and it’s not.�? “Because it’s a financial hardship on the U.S.�?
Opposed to individual mandate/ Unconstitutional 17 “Don’t think it’s right to penalize people who don’t have health care.�? “It’s unconstitutional, requiring people to have health insurance.�?
Government-related issues 10 “I don’t like the government making personal decisions for me.�? “I believe the government should stay out of health care�? “There is too much government in our personal choices.�?
General opinion of the ACA among the uninsured, which had been trending negative for the past several months, also moved in a positive direction this month, returning closer to levels measured at the end of 2013. In March, 45 percent of the uninsured say they have an unfavorable view of the law (compared to 56 percent in February) and 37 percent have a favorable view (up sharply from 22 percent last month). Opinion among the uninsured in tracking polls has shown more month-to-month variation over time than among the total public, at least in part due to the relatively smaller sample size for this subgroup, but this month’s poll finds a clear change in direction, with attitudes shifting more positively towards the law after trending in a negative direction for several months. As more Americans gain coverage under the law, we can expect the group who remain uninsured to change over time, and some changes in opinion may be attributable to changes in who remains uninsured, rather than a shift in opinion among individuals.
The large majority of the public still gives both the federal government and their own state government a rating of “only fair�? or “poor�? when it comes to implementing the ACA, though ratings for both have inched up slightly since the end of 2013. Twenty-four percent now say the federal government is doing an “excellent�? or “good�? job, up 8 percentage points since December, and 28 percent now give a positive rating to their state government, up 5 percentage points in the same time frame. Positive ratings for state governments are also somewhat higher in states operating their own health care marketplace (37 percent say “excellent�? or “good�?) than in states that defaulted to the federal marketplace (24 percent).
FIGURE 8: Federal And State Governments Get Poor Ratings For ACA Implementation Regardless of whether you support or oppose the health care law, how good a job would you say (INSERT) is doing implementing the law? The federal government Your state government Total public Total public Among those in states operating their own marketplace Among those in states defaulting to the federal marketplace* NET Excellent/Good 24% 28% 37% 24% Excellent 4 5 9 3 Good 20 23 28 21 NET Only fair/Poor 72% 59% 51% 62% Only fair 33 33 32 33 Poor 39 26 19 29 Don’t know/Refused 4% 14% 12% 14% *includes states with a state-federal partnership exchange
Over half report having personal conversations about ACA, but similar share are weary of national debate
The ACA was a common topic of personal conversations this month, and the public reports that the tone of those conversations was mostly negative. Just over half the public (55 percent) say they had at least one conversation about the law with friends or family in the past month, up from 31 percent in January 2012 (the last time this question was asked). About half those who say they discussed the law with friends or family (28 percent of the public overall) report hearing mostly bad things about the law in these discussions, while a much smaller share (5 percent of the public overall) say they heard mostly good things and the remainder say it was a mix of the two.
While personal conversations may be on the rise, many Americans appear to be weary of the national debate about the law. Just over half the public (53 percent) say they’re tired of hearing about the debate over the ACA and want the country to focus more on other issues, while about four in ten (42 percent) say they think it’s important for the country to continue the debate. Democrats and those with a favorable view of the law are more likely to say they’re tired of hearing about the debate, while Republicans and those who view the law unfavorably are more evenly split between those who are tired of hearing about it and those who want the debate to continue.
Perhaps reflecting this sense that the debate has gone on long enough, more of the public would like to see Congress keep the law in place and work to improve it (49 percent) or keep it as is (10 percent) rather than repeal it and replace it with a Republican-sponsored alternative (11 percent) or repeal it outright (18 percent).
Individual provisions mostly popular, including across parties, though many are not very well-known
As previous Kaiser tracking polls have found, many of the ACA’s major provisions continue to be quite popular, including across party lines. For example, large shares of Americans – including at least seven in ten overall and at least six in ten Democrats, Republicans, and independents – have a favorable view of the fact that the law allows young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance plans up to age 26, closes the Medicare “doughnut hole�? for prescription drug coverage, provides subsidies to low- and moderate-income Americans to help them purchase coverage, eliminates cost-sharing for preventive services, gives states the option of expanding Medicaid, and prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Nearly as many (including a majority across parties) have a favorable view of the “medical loss ratio�? provision that requires insurance companies to give their customers a rebate if they spend too little money on services and too much on administration and profits. Somewhat more divisive is the law’s Medicare payroll tax on earnings for upper-income Americans, which is viewed favorably by about three-quarters of Democrats and just over half of independents, but just a third of Republicans.
The glaring exception to the popularity of individual provisions of the law is the requirement that nearly all Americans have health insurance or pay a fine, which is viewed unfavorably by roughly two-thirds of the public.
FIGURE 12: Many Elements Of ACA Continue To Be Popular Across Parties Percent who say they have a FAVORABLE opinion of each provision of the law Total Public Democrat Independent Republican Extension of dependent coverage 80% 87% 76% 76% Close Medicare “doughnut hole�? 79 89 75 73 Subsidy assistance to individuals 77 89 74 65 Eliminate out-of-pocket costs for preventive services 77 81 76 75 Medicaid expansion 74 89 69 62 Guaranteed issue 70 74 70 69 Medical loss ratio 62 68 64 54 Increase Medicare payroll tax on upper income 56 77 54 33 Individual mandate/penalty 35 56 31 16 Note: Question wording abbreviated. For full question wording, see survey topline.
At the same time that the public reports having a favorable view of many of the component parts of the ACA, large shares remain unaware that the law actually does some of these things. A few of the law’s provisions are both popular and relatively well-known – for example, 71 percent are aware that the law extends dependent coverage up to age 26, and eight in ten have a favorable view of this provision. More than half are also aware of several other popular provisions, including the law’s subsidy assistance to low and moderate income individuals (63 percent), Medicaid expansion (60 percent), and the so-called “guaranteed issue�? provision that prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage based on health status (54 percent). Yet, in each of these three cases, the share who are aware of the provision lags roughly 15 percentage points behind the share who view it favorably.
Two other popular provisions are even less well-known. Fewer than half (43 percent) are aware that the law eliminates out-of-pocket costs for preventive services, and just four in ten (40 percent, including 38 percent of seniors) know that it gradually closes the Medicare prescription drug “doughnut hole.�? At the other end of the spectrum, the law’s least popular provision – the individual mandate – is widely recognized, with nearly eight in ten (78 percent) correctly answering that the ACA requires nearly all Americans to have health insurance or else pay a fine.
Misperceptions also persist about things the ACA does not actually do. For example, nearly half the public (46 percent) think the law allows undocumented immigrants to receive financial help from the government to buy health insurance, and another two in ten (22 percent) are unsure whether it does. A third of the public (34 percent, including 32 percent of seniors) believe the law establishes a government panel to make decisions about end-of-life care for people on Medicare, with another quarter saying they are unsure (23 percent of the public, 25 percent of seniors). ||||| You incur the fine by not signing up by the Monday, March 31, deadline, but most people wouldn’t actually pay the penalty until they file their 2014 returns, which typically happens in 2015. The IRS can collect it by reducing the size of your refund. The IRS can collect it by reducing the size of your refund, but many of its other enforcement mechanisms such as levies are not available. So, it does seem to be possible to avoid the penalty by making sure you don’t have a refund due, but many of the people in the penalty demographic typically do receive refunds. A lot of people without health insurance who would be subject to a penalty benefit from tax credits that would typically give rise to a refund. These individuals could adjust their withholding to avoid a refund, but that seems unlikely in most cases. ||||| Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE Healthcare.gov saw millions of visitors in the days leading up to the deadline to enroll: midnight on March 31. But Republican critics say that's not an accurate reflection of how people feel about the Affordable Care Act.
The home screen for HealthCare.gov announces the deadline for sign-ups. (Photo: Jon Elswick, AP)
WASHINGTON — The federal government's health care enrollment website — HealthCare.gov — went down briefly early Monday for extended maintenance as heavy traffic was building on the last day of open enrollment for 2014.
At one point, the site told visitors that it was "down for maintenance" and asked people to "please try again later." At other points, visitors were told there was heavy traffic on the system and were asked to remain online in a "virtual waiting room" until they could be connected.
Administration spokesman Aaron Albright said the website undergoes "regular nightly maintenance" during off-peak hours and that period was extended Monday because of a "technical problem."
He did not say what the problem was, but a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services called it "a software bug" unrelated to the volume of prospective applicants.
Albright said the website is typically down for maintenance during the period from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. ET, and that as a result of the technical problems the site was down for at least three additional hours Monday morning. The site was largely restored by 8 a.m. ET.
TWITTER FIGHT: Obamacare deadline brings out the tweets
The hiccup came as the Obama administration and its allies made a last-minute push to persuade Americans to enroll in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
Monday at midnight is the deadline for open enrollment and the last chance to avoid a penalty for not purchasing insurance in 2014, which people will pay with their federal income taxes next year.
Those who start the process — either by working on a paper application with a navigator, attempting to enroll online, or talking with a call center representative — may continue the process after the deadline passes.
Administration officials said interest was surging as the deadline neared. Sunday evening, Health and Human Services announced 2 million visits over the weekend to HealthCare.gov, the federal government's enrollment site.
In the last week alone, the call center handled a record 2.5 million calls, surpassing the 2.4 million it received during the entire month of February.
Over the weekend, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appeared at a Baptist church in Miami to urge Floridians to sign up before the deadline. She planned a fresh round of television interviews with local stations Monday to boost enrollment numbers.
An interview with Vice President Biden encouraging young people to enroll will air Monday on celebrity chef Rachael Ray's talk show.
"The traffic and energy and interest this weekend shows many more are interested in the coverage," White House spokeswoman Tara McGuinness said Sunday afternoon.
Republicans saw the situation differently.
In an op-ed appearing in Monday's editions of USA TODAY, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said the vast majority of enrollees were previously insured. Getting Americans to "re-enroll in insurance is no great achievement," he said, "particularly when many of those customers were forced to give up plans they liked."
Sen. John Barrosso, R-Wyo., said the administration is "cooking the books" on enrollment figures. The real test "is what kind of insurance will those people actually have," he said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday.
President Obama announced Thursday that more than 6 million people had enrolled in the federal and state health exchanges, a goal projected by the Congressional Budget Office to ensure the system is sustainable.
Administration officials have not released updated numbers, but there were signs that enrollment numbers have grown since Thursday's milestone was announced.
State officials in New York said Friday that it had bumped up enrollment in private plans almost 25,000 from the previous week, and 70% of the enrollees had not had insurance before. California has already met its goal, but its executive director, Peter Lee, planned to visit several enrollment sites over the weekend. In Washington, D.C., gospel artist John Kee and songwriter Brittney Wright performed at a "gospel enrollment concert" Friday.
The government will have to wait for the insurers to release payment data, as well as information about the newly insured, to answer. However, some states, such as California, have reported payment rates as high as 85%.
White House officials Sunday released a memo that details the administration's public outreach to tout the law. One example: White House officials, Cabinet secretaries and "celebrity surrogates," including NBA standout Kobe Bryant and actress Kerry Washington, have held more than 300 radio interviews in the last six weeks, officials said.
Contributing: Associated Press
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1ge2Kyl | – As the clock ticked toward ObamaCare's midnight deadline, a second round of glitches hit HealthCare.gov today, this time blocking new users from applying. The site is now back up and running, Politico reports, but its "virtual waiting room was triggered," and the Obama administration reported that as many as 100,000 users at a time were on the site. HealthCare.gov had earlier gone down for maintenance for several hours beginning around 3am ET, with Health and Human Services officials ascribing the outage to a software bug. More last-minute tidbits: We are a nation of procrastinators: Last night, HHS revealed that the site saw 2 million visits over the weekend, and that the ObamaCare call center fielded 2.5 million calls in the last week—compared to 2.4 million for all of February, reports USA Today. Joe Biden is trying to help: By appealing to America's youth via an appearance on Rachael Ray's show today. Today's deadline isn't truly a deadline: As previously reported, would-be enrollees who begin but don't complete the process by today will be granted an extension. The penalty threat: The Wall Street Journal clarifies the specifics: a $95 fine or 1% of your income, whichever is greater. It estimates a couple with two kids bringing in $100,000 a year would pony up about $800—when paying 2014 taxes, which will happen in 2015. The unaware: The Journal points out a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll that this week determined 60% of uninsured Americans aren't aware of today's deadline. | [
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I sort-of expected the just-released trailer for Joaquin Phoenix’s Crazy Lost Year documentary “I’m Still Here” to clear things up a bit. Is the film, directed by Phoenix’s brother-in-law Casey Affleck, a mockumentary? Did Phoenix really quit Hollywood to become a rapper? Was that beyond-awkward David Letterman interview a stunt? And, most importantly, did he ever shave that Civil War-soldier beard that I hear is now home to endangered baby whooping cranes? The trailer’s just one minute long, but it’s a whirling dervish of confusion. “I’m Still Here” still doesn’t have a Baltimore release date, so in the meantime, let’s bask in the trailer’s zany glow.
Phoenix is rising. I’m just not sure where from — or where he’s going next.
•••• Half of the trailer contains a strange philosophical monologue from someone unidentified who’s counseling Phoenix. Or something. “That’s you,” the philosopher says. “Drops of water. And you’re on top of the mountain of success. But you start sliding down the mountain and you think, ‘Wait a minute. I’m a mountaintop water drop.” Uh-huh. This is why I skipped so many intro to philosophy classes in college. That, and because all the Power Point lectures were saved on the class website.
•••• The most typical shot in the trailer: anguish. The holding-your-hands-in-your -unkempt-hair variety. These scenes usually take place in what appear to be upscale hotel rooms.
•••• Looks like Sean “Diddy” Combs was on hand to give some of his extensive rapping expertise! Or give Phoenix a much-needed hug. Either/or, really.
•••• If there’s any stronger evidence that you’ve gone loco, it’s a mini-beer belly.
•••• Could Phoenix have gone mad from the surely lethal combination of strobe lights, douchey clubs and haphazard stage-diving?
•••• What’s this? An uplifting visit to a church?! I feel a tear coming on. ||||| Joaquin Phoenix (Mario Anzuoni / Reuters) A new trailer that hit the Internet last week proves it: The well-respected actor who grew a beard, took up hip-hop, and mumbled through a Letterman appearance was pulling one over on the public.
Joaquin Phoenix has always been a stellar actor. But the nature of his talent has never been more apparent than during the last two years when, beginning with his legendary interview with David Letterman, the clean-shaven two-time Oscar nominee committed himself wholly to making every public appearance a painstaking portrait of an emotional breakdown. Give Phoenix credit: Journalists everywhere (myself included) actually pondered whether his shaggy beard, and his preposterous foray into hip-hop, was something more than a practical joke.
Now comes the trailer for his forthcoming documentary, I’m Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin, which hit the Internet last week. It’s the best evidence yet that the actor—with the help of his brother-in-law Casey Affleck—was pulling a full-on Andy Kaufman on the American public. In the trailer, we see Phoenix playing a reluctant celebrity—despondent in the back of a limo, alone under the spotlight in a vacant theater, bare-chested in profile, all while some craggy-voiced mystic intones enigmatic metaphors about success. “Life’s a journey that goes round and round,” the mystic says, “and the end is closest to the beginning.”
Shepard Fairey said the new movie convinced him that Phoenix is “definitely a brilliant and troubled mystery.”
Whatever that means. Clearly, ambiguity is what drives this endeavor. But the premise is so ridiculous that any serious consideration is rendered moot, almost immediately.
As if signaling the final stretch of this marathon, artist Shepard Fairey released portraits of Phoenix-in-crisis that started turning up around New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and other cities. They are black-and-white illustrations of Phoenix in profile, dark sunglasses in place, his hair a nest of despair. Fairey last weekend told The Daily Beast the new movie convinced him that Phoenix is “definitely a brilliant and troubled mystery.”
“I think both my image and the film inspire audience projection in the vein of a Rorschach test,” Fairey wrote in an email. “The audience reaction supplements, and is an important part of, the film. The psyche of the protagonist is very much intertwined with the psyche of the audience." Meaning that what we think of Phoenix and his shenanigans is a reflection of our own experience, and not the actor. But even that is a pretty high-minded view of what everyone has suspected from the get-go was an interminable hoax.
Joaquin Phoenix street-art image by Shepard Fairey. (Perhaps, this is a good place to mention that Affleck and Phoenix have matching circle tattoos that mean literally “nothing.”)
The movie, which opens Sept. 10, marks Affleck’s directorial debut and was filmed during Phoenix’s 2008-2009 press tour for his last film, Two Lovers, a critically acclaimed indie drama co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw. The instant this all started, Affleck stood stone-faced next to Phoenix, tellingly, the night before Phoenix’s birthday, on a red carpet, during an impromptu interview with the syndicated celebrity tabloid show Extra.
“I want to take this opportunity,” Phoenix half-mumbled to reporter Jerry Penacoli, “to give you an exclusive. This will be my last performance as an actor. I’m not doing films anymore.”
When Penacoli laughed in his face, Phoenix looked wounded, and in a small voice asked, “Why are you laughing at me?” Then he stormed off. It was a moment rife with melodrama, casting Phoenix as the misunderstood artist caught in the crossfire of vapid celebrity journalism. ||||| Web wide crawl with initial seedlist and crawler configuration from March 2011. This uses the new HQ software for distributed crawling by Kenji Nagahashi.
What’s in the data set:
Crawl start date: 09 March, 2011
Crawl end date: 23 December, 2011
Number of captures: 2,713,676,341
Number of unique URLs: 2,273,840,159
Number of hosts: 29,032,069
The seed list for this crawl was a list of Alexa’s top 1 million web sites, retrieved close to the crawl start date. We used Heritrix (3.1.1-SNAPSHOT) crawler software and respected robots.txt directives. The scope of the crawl was not limited except for a few manually excluded sites.
However this was a somewhat experimental crawl for us, as we were using newly minted software to feed URLs to the crawlers, and we know there were some operational issues with it. For example, in many cases we may not have crawled all of the embedded and linked objects in a page since the URLs for these resources were added into queues that quickly grew bigger than the intended size of the crawl (and therefore we never got to them). We also included repeated crawls of some Argentinian government sites, so looking at results by country will be somewhat skewed.
We have made many changes to how we do these wide crawls since this particular example, but we wanted to make the data available “warts and all” for people to experiment with. We have also done some further analysis of the content.
If you would like access to this set of crawl data, please contact us at info at archive dot org and let us know who you are and what you’re hoping to do with it. We may not be able to say “yes” to all requests, since we’re just figuring out whether this is a good idea, but everyone will be considered. | – The enigma that's wrapped in the riddle that is actor Joaquin Phoenix is beginning to unravel ... or maybe not. Film of his apparent months-long nervous breakdown, shot by brother-in-law Casey Affleck, is about to hit theaters, and it's proof that the mysterious personality disorder he displayed was all an enormous practical joke, crows Daily Beast writer Gina Piccalo. A preview of the film I'm Still Here: The Lost World of Joaquin circulating on the Internet is so deadpan that's it's "ridiculous" and further evidence that Joaquin "has been pulling one over on the public," she notes. Still ... the work is "bizarre," admits Piccalo, and everyone connected to the film is still "keeping mum" (except for two female staffers who are suing Affleck for sex harassment). The Baltimore Sun calls the trailer a "whirling dervish of confusion," and the Los Angeles Times is perplexed, and "not entirely sure whether the film is a joke." Like Joaquin, the "entire thing is kind of a blur," the paper adds. | [
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Benicio del Toro, Kimberly Stewart Expecting a Baby
Kimberly Stewart is expecting Benicio del Toro's baby."Kimberly is pregnant. Benicio is the father and is very supportive," his rep confirms to PEOPLE in a statement. "Although they are not a couple, they are looking forward to the arrival of the baby."Stewart, 31, has worked as an actress and model and is the daughter of rocker Rod Stewart, while del Toro, 44, is best known for his award-winning turns in such films as 2000's Traffic (for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar), 2003's 21 Grams and 2008's Che. ||||| Kimberly Stewart Is Pregnant With Benicio Del Toro's Baby
Email This and Kimberly Stewart are the latest pair to get swept up in the Hollywood baby boom.
The 'Che' star's rep, Robin Baum, confirmed to
"Kimberly is pregnant. Benicio is the father and is very supportive. Although they are not a couple, they are looking forward to the arrival of the baby." Benicio Del Toro and Kimberly Stewart are the latest pair to get swept up in the Hollywood baby boom.The 'Che' star's rep, Robin Baum, confirmed to Life & Style that 31-year-old Stewart was expecting the actor's baby."Kimberly is pregnant. Benicio is the father and is very supportive. Although they are not a couple, they are looking forward to the arrival of the baby."
http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=758474&pid=758473&uts=1273603838 http://www.popeater.com/mm_track/popeater/movies/?s_channel=us.moviespop&s_account=aolpopeater,aolsvc&omni=1&ke=1 http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf Keeping Track of the Baby Boom Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy
It's a girl!
Bethenny Frankel of the 'Real Housewives of New York City' gave birth to a baby girl on May 8, 2010. Bryn Hoppy was born at 8AM in New York City and weighed 4 lb. 12 oz. Dimitrios Kambouris, WireImage Dimitrios Kambouris, WireImage Celebrity Baby Boom
The Academy Award winning actor has been reportedly linked to a bevy of beautiful babes, from Scarlett Johansson to Lindsay Lohan Kimberly, the daughter of famed rocker and notorious ladies' man Rod Stewart, has had her fair share of luck in the dating game as well. The blond beauty was formerly engaged to 'Laguna Beach' star Talan Torriero and has allegedly been involved with Tommy Lee and Jude Law This is the first child for both Stewart and Del Toro. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. | – Kimberly Stewart has starred as herself in the E! True Hollywood Story episode of "The Hilton Sisters." So it makes total sense that she's carrying the baby of a fellow actor ... Oscar-winner Benicio del Toro. Yes, you read that right. The 31-year-old daughter of Rod Stewart isn't in a relationship with the 44-year-old, but a source tells People del Toro "is supportive and both are very excited." Click for more on who each has been linked to in the past. | [
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Notice
You must log in to continue. ||||| Police Scotland has launched an investigation into a new Glasgow nightclub following complaints from clubbers that its girl’s toilet housed a two way mirror.
Punters are asked to part with as much as £800 to access one of two ‘smoke and mirrors’ booths inside the venue to ogle female patrons.
The resulting fracas forced the Shimmy Club to issue a statement on Facebook saying: “The Shimmy Club’s two-way mirror is a design feature created as a bit of fun, an interactive feature which we hoped would act as a talking point for people visiting The Shimmy. The vast majority of people who have visited the club have taken it as such.
“God help us when they find out that we have buried vibrators into sections of the dancefloor...............”
This failed to appease many, including Kirsty Cunningham who responded: “The most cringe-worthy bit of PR I've witnessed in years!! To the people comparing a two-way mirror (which faces exclusively into the ladies bathroom) to a unisex wash area, you sound like idiots. The signage provided to inform girls of this is barely noticeable and, realistically, after a few drinks how often do people pay attention to all the little notices dotted around a club?” | – Be careful if you're a woman at Glasgow's Shimmy Club and find yourself having to use the restroom: It's installed with a two-way mirror, and clubgoers who want a look are charged as much as $1,200 to peep in. After complaints, Scotland's police force launched an investigation into the nightclub, the Drum reports. The club isn't denying anything; it released a statement on Facebook calling the mirror "a bit of fun," "a talking point," and "a unique idea," and pointing out that signs in the bathroom warn patrons about the mirror. But one commenter who responded claimed those signs are "barely noticeable." | [
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The University of Notre Dame’s administration building. (Getty/Jonathan Daniel)
Well, since you asked — and many of my friends have, some more than once — no, I will not be cheering for my alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, to win big-time college football’s championship on Jan. 7. What’s really surprising me are those who believe as I do that two players on the team have committed serious criminal acts — sexual assault in one case, and rape in another — but assumed that I’d support the team anyway, just as they are.
“Aren’t you just a little bit excited?” one asked the other day. There are plenty of good guys on the team, too, I’m repeatedly told. And oh, that Manti Te’o is inspiring. But as a thought exercise, how many predators would have to be on the team before you’d no longer feel like cheering?
Sexual violations of all kinds happen on every campus, I know, and neither man will ever be found guilty in court; one of the victims is dead and the other, according to the Notre Dame student who drove her to the ER afterward, in February 2011, decided to keep her mouth shut at least in part because she’d seen what happened to the first woman. Neither player has ever even been named, and won’t be here, either, since neither was charged with a crime.
The Department of Education’s civil rights office is well aware of the second case, though; in fact, federal investigators were on campus when it occurred, as part of a seven-month probe into the way Notre Dame handles such reports. And as a result, with its Title IX funding on the line, the university marked the 40th anniversary of coeducation in 2012 by changing the way it investigates sexual assault for the second time in two years.
Lizzy Seeberg at a tailgate party with her father, brother and friends on Sept. 4, 2010, several days after accusing a Notre Dame football player of sexual assault. (Courtesy of the Seeberg family.)
I’ve spent months researching these cases and written thousands of words in the National Catholic Reporter about the whole shameful situation, some of which you’ve likely heard about: Two years ago, Lizzy Seeberg, a 19-year-old freshman at Saint Mary’s College, across the street from Notre Dame, committed suicide after accusing an ND football player of sexually assaulting her. The friend Lizzy told immediately afterward said she was crying so hard she was having trouble breathing.
Yet after Lizzy went to the police, a friend of the player’s sent her a series of texts that frightened her as much as anything that had happened in the player’s dorm room. “Don’t do anything you would regret,” one of them said. “Messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea.”
At the time of her death, 10 days after reporting the attack to campus police, who have jurisdiction for even the most serious crimes on school property, investigators still had not interviewed the accused. It took them five more days after she died to get around to that, though they investigated Lizzy herself quite thoroughly, even debriefing a former roommate at another school with whom she’d clashed.
Six months later — after the story had become national news — Notre Dame did convene a closed-door disciplinary hearing. The player testified that until he actually met with police, he hadn’t even known why they wanted to speak to him — though his buddy who’d warned Lizzy not to mess with Notre Dame football had spoken to investigators 13 days earlier. He was found “not responsible,” and never sat out a game.
My family celebrating with my dad, John Henneberger, Notre Dame Class of ’44, on his birthday, the same day the above photo of Lizzy Seeberg was taken, Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010.
A few months later, a resident assistant in a Notre Dame dorm drove a freshman to the hospital for a rape exam after receiving an S.O.S. call. “She said she’d been raped by a member of the football team at a party off campus,” the R.A. told me. I also spoke to the R.A.’s parents, who met the young woman that same night, when their daughter brought her to their home after leaving the hospital. They said they saw — and reported to athletic officials — a hailstorm of texts from other players, warning the young woman not to report what had happened: “They were trying to silence this girl,” the R.A.’s father told me. And did; no criminal complaint was ever filed.
It’s not only what I believe went on at that off-campus party, or in the room of the player Lizzy accused, that makes it impossible for me to support the team, though that would be enough. The problem goes deeper than that, and higher, because the man Lizzy accused had a history of behavior that should have kept him from being recruited in the first place. And as bad in my book as the actions of those young men was the determination of the considerably older men who run N.D. to keep those players on the team in an effort to win some football games.
Among those being congratulated for our return to gridiron glory is ND’s president, Rev. John Jenkins, who refused to meet with the Seeberg family on advice of counsel, and other school officials who’ve whispered misleadingly in many ears, mine included, in an attempt to protect the school’s brand by smearing a dead 19-year-old.
(Yes, Lizzy suffered from depression, but according to her therapists was neither “unstable” nor a teller of tales. No, she had never before accused anyone of such a thing. And no, she had never before attempted suicide.)
At first, officials said privacy laws prevented them from responding. But after some criticism, Jenkins told the South Bend Tribune he’d intentionally kept himself free of any in-depth knowledge of the case, yet was sure it had been handled appropriately.
The school’s “proof” that Lizzy lied is that she said the player stopped attacking her after receiving a call or a text. Phone records contradict that, showing that it was the player who called a friend rather than the other way around. Case closed, right? Sure, if you don’t think someone in the middle of both a physical and an anxiety attack could possibly be mistaken about whether her assailant stopped to make a call, or take one.
Joanne Archambault, who ran the San Diego police department’s special victims unit for 10 years and trains cops around the country, told me for my NCR story that because of the way the brain processes information in traumatic situations, victims almost always get some details wrong. Only the phony reports are perfect.
I have no trouble understanding the many Notre Dame fans who don’t know the facts of these cases. Or even those who tell themselves well, maybe, but innocent until proven guilty, right? Lucky them, I say.
The alums who mystify me are those who know the real story, believe it, and are giddy still over a winning season that’s at least in part the result of wrong behavior. I did myself a favor recently and unsubscribed from the alumni e-mails touting the school’s good works and asking, “What would you fight for?” (Football?)
My husband says he continues to be amazed by the depths of my disillusionment; had I really thought they were so much better than this? You bet I did; in fact, Notre Dame isn’t Notre Dame if it isn’t, which might explain why school officials maintain to this day that they’ve done nothing wrong, have never besmirched Miss Seeberg’s memory, and have no idea how so many fans think they know so much about her. (Here’s how: A longtime ND donor I interviewed said a top university official told him straight up that Lizzy had been sexually aggressive with the player rather than the other way around: “She was all over the boy.”)
Though 13 Seebergs went to Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s before Lizzy, her family is sitting this season out, of course. Yet in their Chicago suburb, football fever runs so high that they, too, regularly field queries from friends about whether they’re excited for the Irish.
“We just say ‘No, not too excited, really not a big fan any longer,’ ” says Lizzy’s father, Tom Seeberg, who’s remarkably indifferent to the team’s success: “When tragedy rocks you to your core, all the little stuff is stripped away.” And yes, sports fans, there are people who consider football the little stuff. Since Lizzy’s death, Tom and his wife Mary have raised $280,000 in her memory, enough to open the “Lizzy House” for laypeople teaching for free in the Jesuit-run, inner-city Chicago Cristo Rey school where Lizzy volunteered.
Lizzy’s aunt, Katie Garvey, who met her husband at ND, has come to believe that even if the facts of these cases were “blasted from every news source in the country, the average Notre Dame fan would still find a way to discount it.” Part of her is actually kind of glad for them, that “they don’t have the burden of knowing,” even if “their resistance to knowing is absolutely remarkable.”
In South Bend, naturally, knowing is particularly burdensome: “I’ve watched almost every game this season and there’s not a single time that I don’t feel extreme anger when I see [the accused] on the field,” said Kaliegh Fields, a Saint Mary’s junior who went with Lizzy to the police station. “Once I start thinking about the people who put the school’s success in a sport over the life of a young woman, I can’t help but feel disgust. Everyone’s always saying how God’s on Notre Dame’s side,” she added. “And I think, ‘How could he be?’ ” ||||| Notre Dame's star linebacker Manti Te'o has become an internet sensation after it was revealed that he, knowingly or unknowingly, cultivated an online relationship with Lennay Kekua: a beautiful, smart woman with cancer – who just happens to not to exist.
The story, published Wednesday by Deadspin, garnered a reported 2.6m page views within hours, and a head-spinning amount of viral conversation. But, most notably, the story prompted a swift message of support for Te'o from the school.
Notre Dame is now casting blame on internet tricksters who played with the player's heart. The school's athletic director, Jack Swarbrick, delivered an emotional response to reporters on Wednesday: "Every single thing about this was real to Manti. There was no suspicion. The grief was real, the affection was real, and that's the sad nature of this cruel game."
Maybe Te'o really was duped, or maybe he had a hand in perpetrating the Kekua myth. Either way, Notre Dame's vocal support for its star contrasts sharply with its relative silence on reported sex assaults by football players.
Te'o was a sophomore on August 31, 2010, when Lizzy Seeberg, a freshman at St Mary's College, a university across the street from Notre Dame, reported that she was sexually assaulted by a Notre Dame football player. In the stressful aftermath of the assault, which included coercion from the player's friend – "Don't do anything you would regret," the friend texted Seeberg – Seeberg took an overdosed of depression and anxiety medication and died eight days later.
The most comprehensive coverage on sex assault cases at Notre Dame has come from Melinda Henneberger, who covered the school's response to Seeberg's case for the National Catholic Reporter and then provided further commentary for the Washington Post. In the course of her reporting, she was denied access to Notre Dame officials, and found out that Seeberg's family was, too.
According to the Seebergs, Notre Dame police said they weren't sure when they'd have time to follow up on the case. "They said they were pretty busy," Mary Seeberg said, "because it's football season and there's a lot of underage drinking."
And there was another young woman. She was a freshman when she reported being raped by a football player at a party. Henneberger reported that after the woman endured the same coercion that Seeberg faced, she dropped the report. She lived, and the player continued to play the field.
As in many football communities, when Notre Dame does well, the money flows in: not just to the school, but to the towns outside the stadium gates. In South Bend, when the football team is winning – when 80,000 people buy tickets to sit and drink and watch football in the shadow of "Touchdown Jesus" – the otherwise blighted local economy basks in the glow of $10 million spent locally each home game. When wins are fewer, times are leaner.
But fandom – and access to lore – is always accessible whether times are good or bad. So when scandal hits, communities tend to favor the institution over the individual. It's why Penn State fans welcomed coach Bill O'Brien back with a standing ovation. It's why University of Texas officials are comfortable enough to return two players accused of sexual assault to the roster even as police say the investigation continues. And it's why a football community and police department in Ohio are co-battling a media storm around allegations both worked together to tamp down reports of rape at the hands of two star players.
A hoaxing isn't anything like sex assault accusations, but that's the whole point. Regardless of whether or not Manti Te'o was fooled, and regardless of what Notre Dame officials have to say, in the end, no one will get hurt but those who lied and those who protected liars.
The opposite is true for the women who reported assault and those who have been denied access to the truth afterwards. ||||| Less than a day into the Manti Te'o revelations, we've heard more about a fake dead girlfriend of a Notre Dame football player than a real dead girl. Lizzy Seeberg committed suicide, not long after being intimidated by Notre Dame football players for reporting a sexual assault by one of their teammates. A second woman who was taken to the hospital for a rape exam declined to formally accuse another Notre Dame football player after getting a series of bullying texts from players.
The handful of people who immediately took note of the contrast in the attention — both by the press and by the university — are absolutely right to be angry. But no one should be surprised.
We don't know everything about the Te'o saga yet, but there is probably only one fake dead girlfriend mythologized by the sports media, the existence of "Catfish"-ing as a verb notwithstanding. Whereas there are legions of stories of sexual violence against women and men by star athletes and staff, who can reliably count on the impunity offered by fandom. Confronting the former is a little embarrassing: The public equivalent of loving too much, the allure of a heartwarming story everyone wanted to believe. Confronting the latter requires uglier, more difficult self-examination, and accepting collective responsibility costs more.
It matters, too, how we can talk about each story. Some Manti Te'o Twitter jokes were instant classics; no one decent can make jokes about a girl who killed herself after being told, “Don’t do anything you would regret," and “Messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea," according to Melinda Henneberger's reporting. Henneberger, a Notre Dame alum, wrote in the Washington Post in early December that she won't be cheering for the team. "As a thought exercise, how many predators would have to be on the team before you’d no longer feel like cheering?" she wrote. (She also said, "There are plenty of good guys on the team, too, I’m repeatedly told, And oh, that Manti Te’o is inspiring. I don’t doubt it." Very few did.) It's easier to just change the subject and not think about whether there is something endemic to football culture that enables sexual entitlement with the reasonable assumption of getting away with it.
We all have heard by now how denial and institutional culture contributed to Jerry Sandusky's ability to continue assaulting young boys for years, under cover of the Penn State football program. But once that was exposed, it was rightly considered an unambiguous evil. But the sexual assault of women can and is often explained away — including the Notre Dame donor who justified his continued support to Henneberger by saying that Seeberg had been sexually aggressive, that "she was all over the boy." In other words, it's not just the players who are banding together around their brothers whether they're rapists or not; it's the adults around them who are turning a blind eye because they consider other things are more important. And they're willing to believe anything except that these nice boys can be rapists. ||||| Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Notre Dame's football team had the ghosts of two dead young women following it this past season. One of the women was an inspiration to us all, selfless as she lay dying from her terminal illness, her only wish for her football hero boyfriend being that he live a full life and not miss a game for her funeral. The other woman, however, was a troublemaker, who died of suicide after trying and failing to get Notre Dame to take her accusations of sexual assault against a football player seriously. Now we all know: Only one of these women was real.
Amanda Marcotte Amanda Marcotte is writer for Salon.
The perfect girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, never existed. And "her" "boyfriend" Manti Te'o—the Notre Dame linebacker who wowed the sports world by racking up 12 tackles in an upset against Michigan State mere days after the devastating loss of his beloved Kekua to leukemia—is not the hero we thought he was. Te'o is currently denying that he was in on the hoax, despite claiming to have met Kekua in person. We'll find out the truth soon enough, but regardless, the heart-warming story of a woman whose dying thoughts are not of her lost future but of her man's bright one was as real as the characters in the movies that tell the same fake story.
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Unfortunately for Notre Dame, Lizzy Seeberg was a real person and she really did kill herself in 2011, at age 19, after accusing a football player of sexual assault. In December, Melinda Henneberger explained what happened:
Yet after Lizzy went to the police, a friend of the player’s sent her a series of texts that frightened her as much as anything that had happened in the player’s dorm room. “Don’t do anything you would regret,” one of them said. “Messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea.”
At the time of her death, 10 days after reporting the attack to campus police, who have jurisdiction for even the most serious crimes on school property, investigators still had not interviewed the accused. It took them five more days after she died to get around to that, though they investigated Lizzy herself quite thoroughly, even debriefing a former roommate at another school with whom she’d clashed.
With the alleged victim unable to speak for herself any longer, it comes as no surprise that once the player was actually questioned, he was swiftly cleared and didn't even have to sit out a game. Another alleged rape happened shortly thereafter, but wasn't reported by the victim (Henneberger learned about it from a resident advisor), which seems like the only rational decision under the circumstances.
Te'o's story has been all over the news today—and with good reason. It's nuts. But what's also nuts is that the story of Lennay Kekua—the dead girl who never lived—is a bigger deal (3.1 million-plus views on Deadspin and counting) than the story of Lizzy Seeberg, whose real life ended in real tragedy (44K for this Deadspin post). | – Notre Dame is sticking by Manti Te'o, taking him at his word that he was a victim and not a perpetrator of the non-existent girlfriend hoax. The school promises its own investigation into this "cruel game." But where was this outrage, this determination to get to the truth, in the case of Lizzy Seeberg, wonders observers such as Amanda Marcotte at Slate, Irin Carmon at Salon, and Katie Rogers at the Guardian. Seeberg was a Notre Dame freshman who committed suicide after accusing a football player there of sexual assault. She had been warned by another player not to make trouble because "messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea," according to reporter Melinda Henneberger, who wrote about it in the Washington Post last month. What's more, Henneberger says another girl got raped by a different player but declined to report it after receiving a "hailstorm" of threatening texts from his teammates. No player has been charged, and the school showed little interest in either case, she writes. Ditto for police and the media. "Notre Dame has already scheduled press conferences and hired an outside investigator to deal with the Te’o situation, two things that never happened for Seeberg," writes Marcotte at Slate. "Beautiful, selfless, perfect woman does not exist? Now that's a story. The horrors faced by women trying to find justice for sexual violence? Sorry, ladies, that's just boring old everyday life." Read her full post here. | [
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Thursday night’s Republican debate in Miami saw a dramatic shift in tone from recent GOP clashes, which had been marked by rancorous exchanges and name-calling.
The change surprised even front-runner Donald Trump Donald TrumpOvernight Defense: Speculation grows over Trump national security picks Trump wants son-in-law to sit in on daily briefings: report Herman Cain: 'Steve Bannon is not a white supremacist’ MORE, who said at one point, “I cannot believe how civil it’s been up here.”
But who gained and who lost as crucial primaries loom in Florida, Ohio and several other states on Tuesday?
WINNERS
Businessman Donald Trump
One of the ironclad rules of political campaigns is that a front-runner gains from a debate that produces no game-changing moments.
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By that standard, Trump had by far the best night on Thursday. His rivals highlighted their differences with him, but there was little personal enmity. Trump maintained a calmer demeanor throughout and was never knocked off his stride.
Trump leads in Florida, Tuesday’s biggest prize, by more than 15 points according to the RealClearPolitics (RCP) polling average, so the relative lack of debate drama will be just fine with him.
The businessman’s performance was also characterized by repeated calls for the GOP to unify around him and to “embrace” his capacity to bring new voters to the party. Trump has for some time been focusing attention on what he sees as his electability in the fall, and this was the most pronounced example yet.
In an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo moments after the debate ended, Trump declared that the evening had been “elegant” and said, “We needed this kind of a debate.”
Those aren’t the words of a man who was unhappy with anything that happened during the previous two hours.
The Republican Party
There had been widespread consternation within the GOP about the nature of the most recent two debates, one of which featured Trump responding to a Rubio campaign-trail innuendo about his genitalia.
The party establishment may not yet be reconciled to the prospect of Nominee Trump, but there will at least be a collective sigh of relief about the more measured exchanges on Thursday night in Miami.
Policy wonks will also have derived some satisfaction from the evening, which featured substantive discussions about a wide range of issues, foreign and domestic, from Social Security and veterans’ affairs to trade agreements and relations with Cuba.
Sen. Marco Rubio Marco RubioRubio: 'I have no reaction’ to Bannon hire NFL players visit DC for dialogue on race Insurers brace for ObamaCare upheaval MORE (Fla.)
Rubio entered this debate on the ropes. He suffered a dismal series of election results in Tuesday’s contests, and there is no real evidence that he is clawing his way back into contention in his home state.
Perhaps wisely, he didn’t try to knock out Trump, or anyone else, with a single blow on Thursday night. Instead, he delivered a solid performance that will have reminded his supporters why they believe in him.
He also likely helped himself in the Sunshine State on a couple of issues.
His critique of President Obama’s decision to reopen diplomatic relations with Cuba was powerful, and he walked a fine line effectively on Social Security reform in a state that has more than 3.1 million retirees receiving benefits, as co-moderator Jake Tapper noted. While Rubio proposed gradually raising the retirement age, he also noted that, “I’m against any changes to Social Security that are bad for my mother.”
Make no mistake, Rubio’s chances of the nomination are exceedingly slim at this point — and they could expire completely if he loses the Florida primary. But he acquitted himself well on Thursday night nonetheless.
MIXED
Sen. Ted Cruz Ted CruzCruz, Marla Maples, Tommy Hilfiger all seen at Trump Tower Supreme Court now in Trump’s hands The conservative case against filibuster reform MORE (Texas)
Cruz can take satisfaction from the fact that he is clearly the biggest threat to Trump’s quest for the nomination. His debate performance Thursday was proficient, as it almost always is, but he delivered no moments spectacular enough to derail the Trump train.
The Texas senator continues to assail Trump over his conservative bona fides.
On Thursday, he said that it was a “matter of public record” that the business mogul had supported Democratic nominee John Kerry John KerryUS agrees to take refugees detained by Australia White House hails new Colombia peace agreement Kerry sidesteps Trump talk in Antarctica MORE over incumbent Republican President George W. Bush in the 2004 election and had given money to Hillary Clinton Hillary Rodham ClintonGOP rushes to embrace Trump Mark Mellman: What happened to the polls? DNC charter requires chairman be full time MORE for her 2008 presidential campaign. He also knocked Trump for, in Cruz’s view, his insufficient support for Israel.
Still, this was a more subdued Cruz than on previous occasions. He may have calculated that going into full-on attack mode would hurt rather than help him or that he should bide his time until other candidates drop out and leave him in a one-on-one battle with Trump.
But time is running perilously short for anyone hoping to beat Trump. Cruz at one point highlighted that he was only about 100 delegates behind the front-runner and that he had beaten him in a number of states.
Trump shot back immediately: “He’s always saying, ‘I’m the only one that beat Donald in six contests, and I beat him.’ But I beat him in 13 contests. He never mentions that.”
All Cruz could do was smile.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich
Kasich, a more uneven debater than Cruz, had a respectable night. But a highlight reel for the Ohio governor would be very short indeed. He was competent but not memorable.
Kasich also suffered from an unusual dynamic. In the most recent debates, he had been able to distinguish himself by his positivity amid rampant mud-slinging. With his rivals adopting a more dignified tone on Thursday, Kasich stood out less starkly.
LOSERS
Democrats and fans of recent GOP debates
Democrats had reacted with undisguised glee to previous Republican debates, which they believed damaged the party’s brand and curbed its capacity to reach out to voters in the center ground. There was much less for them to latch onto on Thursday.
They were not left entirely without ammunition. Trump’s description of the 1989 pro-democracy Tiananmen Square uprising in China as a “riot” will surely find its way into an attack ad if he does become the GOP nominee.
When Rubio suggested concerns about climate change were overstated, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, immediately excoriated him on Twitter.
Still, those were slim pickings compared to sound bites about the size of parts of Trump’s anatomy or clashes that featured his repeated mocking of his two main rivals as “Little Marco” and “Lying Ted.”
Of course, there are other viewers — not all of them Democrats — who have loved the WWE style of those recent debates. Thursday night, by those standards, just didn’t pack the same punch. ||||| At the CNN debate in Miami, GOP candidates sparred over immigration, social security, how to talk about Muslims and more. Here are the key moments. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
The 12th Republican presidential debate is over. The Fix team annotated it while I tweeted and picked a handful of the best and worst of the night that was. They're below.
Winners
* Marco Rubio: The Florida senator was poised, confident and knowledgeable. He avoided any sort of personal attacks on Donald Trump and largely steered clear of clashing with the race's front-runner at all. It worked. (It also helped that Rubio had a hometown crowd ready to cheer his every word.) Watching Rubio on Thursday night, I found myself wondering where he might have been in this race if he hadn't (a) had brain-lock in the debate just before the New Hampshire primary and (b) hadn't spent 72 hours earlier this month getting in the gutter with Trump. Of course, that's besides the point now. Rubio's last hope in the race is to win Florida, denying Trump the state's 99 delegates and praying that, somehow, the race changes drastically and puts him back in the mix. It's a long shot. But Rubio deserves credit for performing extremely well when the chips were down.
* Donald Trump: Let me be honest here. I have no idea what to make of Trump when it comes to his debate performances. On the good side, Trump was far more measured and under control in this debate than in any of the previous ones. Gone were references to "Little Marco" and "Lyin' Ted" and the general rhetorical nastiness that has been a Trump hallmark since he announced his candidacy. And Trump was, largely, given a pass by the other men on the stage. Rubio, clearly scorched by his collapse in the wake of his juvenile attacks on Trump, wanted no piece of him. John Kasich, with a campaign built on hope and optimism, ignored Trump. Ted Cruz occasionally engaged Trump -- trying to paint him as a policy simpleton -- but the real estate mogul refused to take the bait. So, that was the good side. Scroll down for the bad side.
* Ted Cruz: The Texas senator succeeded, at times during the debate, in making it seem as though it was a one-on-one race between him and Trump. Cruz was also less deeply rehearsed in this debate -- to the good. He has a different challenge than Rubio or Kasich, who need to bend the arc of the contest. They need a knockout of Trump; Cruz is trying to beat him on points. And, on that front, this was a good debate for Cruz. He repeatedly hammered Trump's policy solutions as nothing more than empty rhetoric. Also, Rubio's good debate works in Cruz's favor. Cruz can't win Florida but needs to keep those 99 delegates away from Trump somehow.
* Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović: She's the Croatian president. (But, of course, you knew that.) And thanks to Kasich joking that he'd be running for president of Croatia if there wasn't immigration to the United States, I googled Ms. Grabar-Kitarović. I am certain I wasn't the only one.
Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic celebrates her victory against Ivo Josipovic in the presidential elections in Zagreb, Croatia. EPA/ANTONIO BAT
* Jake Tapper's pocket square: Hell yeah, Jake. I applaud men being a bit fashion forward. Dark suits, white shirts and red/blue ties? Boring. Pocket square? Now we're talking!
Losers
* Donald Trump: Imagine where Trump might be if he was willing to pick up a policy briefing book and, you know, skim it. He's often able to coast by in these debates even with an almost total lack of policy knowledge. But, he got caught flat-footed a few times in this one. The most painful? Trump's clear cluelessness about Cuba policy, made all the worse by Rubio's deep knowledge, which he dropped on Trump's head. The question, as always with Trump, is whether he lacks engagement on policy matters at all. It's nothing new, and he continues to win states and rack up delegates. Trump's supporters seem uninterested in the minutiae of his policy positions. Rather they respond to his toughness and his tone. So....
* John Kasich: Kasich wasn't bad. He just didn't really stand out in any meaningful way. The Ohio governor kept up his Mr. Nice Guy routine, but it played slightly less well in this debate because everyone was much nicer to each other. Kasich's debate performance speaks to the larger conceit his campaign is built on; hang around, don't make mistakes and offer yourself as an optimistic alternative. The only way a strategy like that works, of course, is if all of the people in front of you implode or kill each other off.
* Reince Priebus: This was the 12th Republican debate. It is March. Given the lateness of the hour -- in terms of the primary -- it is never a good sign when the chairman of the Republican National Committee has to go out before a debate and assure voters everything is going to be just fine, no need to worry, the situation is under control, please move along, nothing to see here.
"This party is going to support the nominee, whoever that is, 100%." -- RNC Chair Reince Priebus — Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) March 11, 2016
* CNN: Look. I'm a man. I'm 40. I have two small children. I work a lot. Just tell me EXACTLY when the damn debate starts. Don't promote -- with your countdown clock no less! -- that the debate begins at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time only to tell viewers (okay, me) when they tune in that "right at the top of the 9 p.m. hour" things will get started. I, of course, get that CNN is making a ratings calculation here. They are betting that even if you are annoyed at their ruse -- you know, their cunning attempt to trick you -- you'll be too lazy to change the channel because you know it's only 30 more minutes until the debate starts. And, it works (on me). Still, CNN. Can't we all just act like grown-ups? Come on, man. What are we doing out here, man? ||||| CLEVELAND, Ohio — Viewers of Thursday's Republican presidential debate might have wondered whether they had flipped on the wrong channel.
The same characters — celebrity businessman Donald Trump, Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich — were on stage. But the script had changed. The candidates took turns speaking, answering policy-oriented questions and refraining from insulting each other.
You know, a normal — almost boring — political debate.
It was a stark divergence from the previous Republican debate last week, in which Trump alluded to his male anatomy in the bawdy program's opening minutes. But on Thursday, Trump, pivoting to the general election, struck a subdued and conciliatory tone. He waited until the second hour of the debate to utter a mild swear word — "hell" — and generally avoided engaging his opponents directly.
"We're all in this together," Trump said near the beginning of the debate. "We're going to come up with answers. We're going to find the answers to things. And so far, I cannot believe how civil it's been up here."
Kasich turned in a workmanlike performance in the final debate, televised on CNN, before Ohio's March 15 primary. Ohio and its 66 delegates are of critical importance to blocking Trump, and while polls show a victory in his home state is within reach, Kasich has said he will drop out if he does not win Ohio.
But ironically, even though he is one of the most substantive and positive candidates in the Republican field, Kasich did not benefit from Thursday's elevated tone.
Here are five takeaways:
1. Kasich got lost in the field
Kasich had his best debate performance last week, serving as the adult in the room during a childish debate that for all intents and purposes devolved into a middle-school food fight.
That contrast was not so stark on Thursday, and Kasich consequently did not have a big breakthrough moment.
Kasich showed the most energy when reciting his accomplishments in Ohio, and when offering detailed criticism of Democratic President Barack Obama's foreign policy. He also gave a thoughtful and specific answer on what could be done to improve healthcare and job opportunities for veterans by saying the Pentagon should better coordinate with state-level veteran and employment agencies when military members come home from their deployments.
Kasich gave a strong answer in response to Trump's assessment that the Chinese government showed "strength" in Tiananmen Square by violently suppressing a popular uprising in 1989.
"I think the Chinese government butchered those kids," Kasich said. "And when that young man stood in front of that tank — we ought to build a statue of him when he faced down the Chinese government."
But for the most part, his positive, policy-driven message once again blurred with Rubio, who appeared reformed on Thursday after joining Trump for awhile as a bully in the schoolyard.
Kasich said it all in his closing message, in which he specifically gave a shout-out to Ohio voters:
"I have been unwavering in running a positive campaign," Kasich said. "I tried to be positive in such a way to show my record, my accomplishments, my vision. I wanted to raise the bar in presidential politics so our kids can take a look at the way you can run for president, and maybe how you can one day be president of the United States. Maybe being positive isn't all that interesting, but it's interesting to my family and all my supporters I meet across the country."
For what it's worth, Trump did not go after Kasich, as some had predicted he might. Trump while on the campaign trail had recently called Kasich an "absentee governor" while seeking the presidency. But Trump on Thursday night left Kasich alone.
2. Cruz tosses barbs at Trump
Last week, Cruz largely sat back while Rubio and Trump traded insults, and seemed to benefit from his more strategic approach. On Thursday, he waited for about half an hour before engaging Trump, comparing Trump's belief that government can save money by operating more efficiently to that of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state.
"Government is the problem," Cruz said.
Generally, Cruz turned in what's likely to be Thursday's most effective performance. His responses suggested that Trump had accurately identified problems — imbalanced trade deals, radical Islamic terrorism — that are important to the GOP conservative base. But he said Trump had either failed to identify solutions, or had offered up the wrong ones.
"The answer is not to yell, 'China bad, Muslims bad.' You have to understand the nature of these threats and how you deal with them,' Cruz said.
Cruz also got in one of the best zingers of the night in his closing remarks.
"What an incredible nation we have," Cruz said, "that the son of a bartender, the son of a mailman, the son of a dishwasher and the son of a successful businessman can all stand on this stage and compete to ask for your support."
3. Trump softens his tone — but not his message
Even though Trump avoided getting in scrums with his opponents, that doesn't mean he's sanded the rough edges off some of his more controversial positions.
Moderator Jake Tapper asked Trump about his comment on Wednesday that "Islam" hates America, pressing on whether he meant to lump all 1.6 billion Muslims in the world in with terrorists.
"I mean a lot of them, a lot of them," Trump said. "I will tell you, there's something going on that maybe you don't know about, and others don't know about," he said.
Responding, Rubio said Trump's words could have consequences. Trump said he was not interested in being politically correct.
Rubio shot back: "I'm not interested in being politically correct. I'm interested in being correct."
Rubio continued to say that while radical Islam is a problem, Muslims have served in the U.S. military, and that Trump's remarks have made it harder for Americans to work in the Muslim world.
For his part, Rubio, whose candidacy has floundered in recent days, performed fairly well on Thursday. He got a boost from the hometown crowd — the event was in Miami, Florida — particularly in his answers to questions related to Cuba.
Florida also will hold its primary on March 15, and a win by Rubio would go a long way toward stopping Trump. Polls consistently have shown Trump winning the state and its 99 delegates by double-digits.
Trump's more wishy-washy response on opening relations with Cuba — Rubio was clear and specific that the U.S. should do so after certain demands are met — might help Rubio win some votes in Florida, which has a significant Cuban exile population. But Rubio's campaign has the hallmarks of one that is running on fumes.
4. Candidates talk about a possibly contested convention
Thursday's moderators asked the candidates how they would feel about a contested Republican National Convention — one in which the July 18 Cleveland convention would arrive without a clear nominee, leaving it to the party to pick one instead.
Kasich, who took the question first, did not concede moderator Hugh Hewitt's point that he cannot win the nomination without a contested convention. (Kasich would need to win about 90 percent of the remaining delegates to hit the 1,237-delegate threshold needed to clinch the nomination.)
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Kasich said. "We don't know what's going to happen, because we still have more than half the delegates to be selected. And that's what's going to be a very interesting thing to see as it all plays out over the next couple of weeks."
Cruz said a convention that does not result in himself or Trump — the presumed delegate leaders — being nominated would not be legitimate.
"There are some in Washington who are having fevered dreams of a brokered convention,'" Cruz said. "They want to parachute in and have their favored candidate be the nominee. I think that would be an absolute disaster, and we need to respect the will of the voters."
And Trump called the 1,237 delegate-threshold an "artificial number." (The number is half the total number of Republican delegates.)
"I think whoever gets the most delegates should win," Trump said.
5. The man behind the curtain steps out
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus took the unusual step of addressing the live crowd — and the television audience — before the debate began. He offered a conciliatory message to a party that has been roiling since the emergence of Trump as the clear GOP frontrunner.
"I want to get something really clear, because there's been a lot of talk about this," Priebus said. "This party is going to support the nominee, no matter who that is, 100 percent. There's no question about that."
Any of the four men on stage, Priebus reasoned to the Republican crowd, were better than Clinton or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the other Democratic presidential candidate.
Priebus said the winner of the GOP primary will join "our entire wonderful group of people that are going to come together and unify in Cleveland and get behind that nominee. That's what we do as Republicans."
Easier said than done, perhaps. But maybe Priebus' words had an impact on Thursday. The audience — mostly — sat quietly and waited until candidates were done speaking before applauding. ||||| At the CNN debate in Miami, GOP candidates sparred over immigration, social security, how to talk about Muslims and more. Here are the key moments. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
At the CNN debate in Miami, GOP candidates sparred over immigration, social security, how to talk about Muslims and more. Here are the key moments. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
Through 12 Republican debates, there has been one consistent dynamic: Donald Trump has held center stage, literally and figuratively. He is the alpha politician who has fended off multiple opponents with cutting insults, timely interruptions and only an occasional exploration of the substance of policy.
Trump shared a debate stage Thursday night with his three remaining rivals, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and he found a different way to control the evening: by deflection and adaptability.
Ahead in the race for the nomination, he adopted a more restrained and subdued demeanor, even passing up opportunities to strike back when his opponents tried to engage him. It was a strategy common to front-runners — play not to lose, avoid mistakes or eruptions, and force the opposition to change the dynamic.
For much of the evening, the four candidates carried on a generally civil discussion on the issues. They avoided the kinds of clashes that had created a downward spiral in their dialogue over the three previous debates.
Thursday’s encounter, in particular, seemed a direct reaction to the universal criticism of their debate a week ago, a forum that took the GOP campaign into the gutter. But in the more subdued environment, Trump was challenged anew to move beyond generalities, and he still struggled to explain where he really stands on a range of issues, from education and trade policy to Social Security and the federal budget deficit to dealing with the Islamic State and Iran.
1 of 18 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × The Republican presidential candidates faced off during the CNN debate in Miami View Photos The four remaining candidates debated in Miami, five days before the winner-take-all GOP primary in Florida on March 15. Caption The four remaining candidates debated in Miami, five days before the winner-take-all GOP primary in Florida on March 15. March 10, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with rival Ted Cruz as they arrive onstage for the CNN debate at the University of Miami. Carlo Allegri/Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
That Trump has certain skills as a candidate is without question. He can dominate a debate or a news cycle with relative ease. His ability to keep opponents at bay and off balance has been stellar. But there is much more to being president than that, which is why there are so many doubts about him among the electorate at large. What the debates have shown is that Trump’s lack of depth on issues continues to be a key part of the story of his quest for the presidency.
Trump arrived at Thursday’s debate at the University of Miami nearing what could be a key turning point in the Republican campaign. By Tuesday night, after a round of primaries in big states, he either will be seen in full command of the nomination process — virtually unstoppable — or facing competition that could carry on all the way to the floor of the GOP convention in Cleveland in July with no certain outcome.
The New York billionaire has gotten to this moment through the systematic destruction of his opponents. He is a ruthless attacker and a pitiless counterpuncher. He reads people and goes for the jugular. He delights in putting down his opponents and shows no mercy as he does so.
Three candidates in particular have threatened him, and he has lashed at each. He unnerved Jeb Bush by declaring the former Florida governor the “low energy” candidate. When he called Rubio “Little Marco,” the tag seemed almost instantly to diminish the politician in whom so many establishment Republicans had invested their hopes.
Playing Trump’s game has proved foolhardy. Bush vacillated in his response to Trump’s insults until his candidacy had little oxygen left. Rubio finally responded when his candidacy was in deep trouble. Goaded into a direct battle, Rubio went down to Trump’s level of insults. He said this week he now regrets what he did. Rubio’s faint hopes of continuing depend on winning his home state on Tuesday, but he trails in the polls.
“Lyin’ Ted” is Trump’s belittling shorthand for Cruz. The two seemed to share a bromance for months, until it was clear to each that the other represented a mortal threat to his hopes of becoming the nominee. Cruz, however, has shown more resilience in the face of Trump’s attacks than Bush or Rubio, at least so far. He is second in states and delegates won.
Kasich has avoided attacking Trump and, in turn, has avoided being attacked. But can anyone beat Trump by trying to ignore him, as Kasich has done? Not likely. If the governor beats Trump in Ohio on Tuesday, he’s likely to find himself under attack, and a new chapter in their relationship will begin to unfold.
But if Trump’s rivals have failed to knock him down by playing his game of insult and attack, they also have struggled to capitalize on those limitations, which says something about both them and Trump. If the New York businessman ultimately is denied the nomination — or eventually the presidency, should he become the nominee — it could be as much his fault as anything else. After nine months as a politician, there is still a question as to how much he has grown as a candidate.
On Thursday, he was pressed to explain his opposition to the education policy known as Common Core. “Education through Washington, D.C.,” he replied. When CNN’s Jake Tapper pointed out that Common Core was developed by governors and the states and that the standards are voluntarily adopted by states and localities, Trump said, “It has been taken over by Washington.”
When Kasich was asked about Common Core, he offered a deeper description of what he has done in Ohio on a range of education issues. Cruz, who opposes Common Core, outlined a series of proposals to expand charter schools, home schools, school vouchers and the like. “It’s easy to talk about the problem, but you have to understand the solutions.”
CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Trump to explain how he would preserve the financial viability of Social Security without making adjustments in the retirement age, benefits or anything else. Trump said he would attack waste, fraud and abuse. When Bash told him that estimates suggest that would accomplish very little, Trump shifted his focus to the cost of U.S. military obligations overseas.
This time it was Rubio who suggested the front-runner has limited knowledge of the problems he wants to solve. “The numbers don’t add up,” he said of Trump’s proposal. “The bottom line is, we can’t just continue to tiptoe around this and throw out things like I’m going to get at fraud and abuse.”
Trump responded by claiming that changes in the government’s bidding process would reap major dividends. “We’re going to go out to bid in virtually every different facet of our government,” he said. “We’re going to save a fortune.”
So it went through much of the debate — the most substantive discussion of any of the debates on an evening when Trump’s rivals sought to undermine him on the substance rather than theatrics.
On foreign policy, Trump was told that he didn’t understand that his Middle East policies were anti-Israel, even though he claimed that he was more pro-Israel than anyone else on the stage. He was accused of wanting to continue policies closer to those of President Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton rather than change direction, as many Republicans are demanding.
Cruz delivered a cutting description of Trump’s foreign policy philosophy as, “China bad, Muslims bad.”
It was an entirely different approach by Trump’s opponents, and response by the New York billionaire. The criticisms produced few fireworks and probably muted headlines on Web pages all over the country.
Trump continued on a plane of generalities more than specifics. That has worked for him through the course of the nomination battle, but it leaves unanswered exactly what he would do as president. ||||| Holy cow, what a boring debate. Donald Trump looked like he was on Xanax the whole night, Marco Rubio wasn’t determined to insult him at every turn, and all the candidates already knew what all the other candidates were going to say. The result was the first debate on the Republican side that was actually kind of hard to watch all the way through.
Not to fear! Here at RedState we slogged through it for you. Without further ado, here are the winners from tonight’s debate:
Winners:
1. Ted Cruz – Right now Ted Cruz is just waiting for the inevitable day when Kasich and Rubio drop out so that he can take on Trump head to head. He is banking on the fact that he will win that race just based on what an embarrassment Trump has made out of himself thus far on the campaign trail. I don’t really think anything tonight is going to change that, which is all Ted Cruz really wanted to accomplish. Oh, also, on several occasions, he demonstrated that he knew what he was talking about, and that Donald Trump did not.
2. Marco Rubio – Rubio got off virtually every memorable line of the night, including “I don’t care about being politically correct, I just want to be correct on this issue.” He also embarrassingly exposed Trump’s lack of basic knowledge about foreign policy, especially with respect to Cuba. Rubio was smart, snappy, and contained Trump without really insulting him. That having been said, Rubio looked kind of tired, and frankly a little defeated. I think Rubio knows the writing is on the wall, but really wanted to stick it out for this last debate. Sad.
3. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act – First time that thing has been mentioned outside of high school history class in decades.
LOSERS:
1. Donald Trump – Donald Trump did not just lose this debate, he is a loser. He knows nothing about anything, including the things he professes to know about. His answer about Cuba was worse than the answer Billy Madison gave at the quiz bowl. He wouldn’t even condemn the guy at his rally who punched a protester in the face. Trump tried to appear Presidential but instead mostly just looked stoned. He also defended the Chinese for how they handled Tiananmen Square, so that will really help quell those fears that he’s a not-very-closeted totalitarian.
2. CNN – This had to be easily the least entertaining debate, and it seemed kind of like all the candidates mailed it in. It is doubtful that any soundbites from this debate will last beyond the next couple of days. Still CNN has gotten a nice share of the GOP primary debate boomlet, so they should go away too sad. | – After the escalating pattern of hostilities over the previous 11 GOP debates, the 12th offered what seemed like the strangest spectacle yet: four Republican candidates calmly discussing the issues, with nary a mention of bodily parts or functions. Marco Rubio was widely seen as having turned in the best performance, though the lack of any standout moments from rivals left the relatively subdued Donald Trump in the best position at the end of the night. Here's what commentators are saying about the candidates: Donald Trump. He pursued a strategy common to front-runners: "play not to lose, avoid mistakes or eruptions, and force the opposition to change the dynamic," writes Dan Balz at the Washington Post. He didn't really seem to know what he was talking about most of the time, Balz notes, but that hasn't been a problem for him before. Mark Halperin at Bloomberg also declares Trump—"the luckiest front-runner"—the winner, mainly because the three underdogs largely left him alone and failed to score big moments of their own. Marco Rubio. The Florida senator was "poised, confident, and knowledgeable" on his home turf, writes Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post, who credits him for avoiding attacks on Trump and for "performing extremely well when the chips were down," even though it's probably too late to save his campaign. Ted Cruz. This was a good but not good enough performance from Cruz, according to Niall Stanage at the Hill, who considers Trump and Rubio the winners. His debating "was proficient, as it almost always is, but he delivered no moments spectacular enough to derail the Trump train," he writes. Leon Wolf at RedState, however, calls Cruz the winner simply because the debate left him on course to become Trump's sole opponent. Wolf gives Cruz bonus points because "on several occasions, he demonstrated that he knew what he was talking about, and that Donald Trump did not." John Kasich. The Ohio governor had some excellent lines and turned in a competent performance, but not one likely to catapult him to the GOP nomination. Last week, Kasich emerged as "the adult in the room during a childish debate that for all intents and purposes devolved into a middle-school food fight," writes Andrew Tobias at Cleveland.com, but he failed to stand out during Thursday's more well-mannered affair. Click for some of the debate's best lines. | [
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Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| ESPN's Chris Fowler posts on his Twitter account that he needed broadcast partner Jesse Palmer to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him during halftime of the Pinstripe Bowl to avoid choking on a chicken sandwich.
"Never before needed a Heimlich at halftime. (Or any time)!" Fowler posted Saturday. "thanks Jesse Palmer! He saved me from death by dry chicken sandwich. Really."
Fowler was doing play-by-play for the game at Yankee Stadium between Notre Dame and Rutgers. Palmer, the former Florida and New York Giants quarterback, was the analyst. Both live in New York, so the Pinstripe Bowl is home game for them.
Fowler also posted: "Not bad to have quick thinking, ex-NFL player around when Heimlich needed. I'll take bruised ribs to avoid choking!" ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more | – At times the losing team is accused of choking. This time ESPN announcer Chris Fowler admits he choked, literally, during yesterday's Pinstripe Bowl, the AP reports. Fowler tweeted that he was choking on a chicken sandwich at halftime when fellow broadcaster Jesse Palmer gave him the Heimlich maneuver. "Never before needed a Heimlich at halftime. (Or any time)!" he posted. "Thanks Jesse Palmer! He saved me from death by dry chicken sandwich. Really." He soon added that it was "not bad to have a quick-thinking, ex-NFL player around" in a time of need. | [
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] |
NASA says it's the second-most watched clock in the world, behind the Big Ben clock in London. It's the Kennedy Space Center countdown clock, familiar in hundreds of launch pictures, and on Monday, it was removed.
Images: Best spots to see KSC rocket launches On a clear day and especially at night, rocket launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center can be seen from hundreds of miles away in the Central Florida area. Those looking for something more up-close can go to these areas of the Space Coast that offer public access. More
Watch this report
The clock first made its appearance in the heady days of Apollo, for Apollo 12 in November 1969. It was there for all six other moon launches and all 135 space shuttle launches.
Central Floridians watched the clock through a lot of suspenseful moments and a lot of weather delays.
"To keep it going, or [use] parts which we have to make ourselves, is just not practical," said George Diller, NASA public information specialist.
The clock has 336 light bulbs. You could call Bruce Hodge the clock-master. Hodge has changed every last one of those bulbs multiple times.
"Run through the numbers; make sure they all work," he said. "Do that for every launch."
Hodge supervised the removal of the old countdown clock. He's kept it running for 40 of its 45 years.
Also see: Leon County deputy shot, killed in house fire ambush north of Tallahassee
A new clock, looking just like the old one but with fancy graphics and electronics will be in place for next week's big Orion test launch.
The old icon is on its way to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Related: Best spots to see KSC rocket launches ||||| NASA retires iconic KSC countdown clock Posted: Monday, November 24, 2014 5:22 PM EST Updated: Monday, January 19, 2015 5:22 PM EST
It outlasted decades of American spacecraft, from Apollo to Skylab to the space shuttle. But now, the historic countdown clock at Kennedy Space Center is itself headed for retirement.
For 40 years, the clock has been a silent witness to history -- well, almost silent. Up close, you could hear the quaint whirs and clunks of the analog 1960s technology hidden behind its faded blue facade.
Those digital-style numbers were actually made up of dozens of 40-watt incandescent bulbs. The clock's internal systems required fans to cool the motors through all those hot Florida days, while the frequent summertime lightning storms also took a toll on the clock's circuits.
Throw in the inescapable corrosion from all that salty sea air, and the clock -- as iconic as it was -- just became too much to keep up.
"The clock is old. It's taken a lot of maintenance to keep it going," NASA spokesman George Diller explained. "It was getting to be very labor-intensive and we're not able to continue to maintain it for every launch."
The clock dates back to Apollo 12 in 1969. Along with the flagpole next to it, it's part of the Complex 39 Press Site, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. But even when the clock wasn't ticking, time was marching on.
Kennedy Space Center and nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are filled with historic items that played crucial roles in the space race before being abandoned or scrapped. It's par for the course at a working spaceport.
Launch Complex 39 -- where the Apollo moon missions and space shuttle flights left the earth -- is being rebuilt for giant new rockets, both public and private. And the hangars that used to house the shuttles are being refitted for new spacecraft, like the Air Force's robotic mini-shuttle and Boeing's manned capsule.
When America's next generation of spacecraft blasts off in December, NASA officials hope a new clock will be in place for the countdown. The agency is adding a modern video display board -- similar to what you'd see at a stadium -- that can do more than just tick.
But Diller said the agency is mindful of not disrupting that classic last-few-seconds-of-the-countdown view too much.
"At a distance, you'll be hard-pressed to see the difference," he insisted.
The old clock, meanwhile, won't go completely dark. Workers hauled it away in three sections Monday but the plan is to refurbish it and move it down the road to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, where space shuttle Atlantis now lives as a museum piece.
Best-case scenario, according to Diller, would be for the clock to eventually be hooked back up to the space center's timing circuits, allowing it to continue to count down for launches from its new location.
If all goes well, the giant numbers that counted down for missions to the moon decades ago may -- one day -- count down the seconds towards a mission to Mars. ||||| The clock first made its appearance in the heady days of Apollo, for Apollo 12 in November 1969. (Source: WESH/CNN)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL (WESH/CNN) - A piece of space history was retired on Tuesday.
NASA is sending the Apollo countdown clock to the space museum.
Bruce Hodge, the clockmaster, supervised the removal of the old countdown clock that he's kept running for 40 of its 45 years.
The clock first made its appearance in the heady days of Apollo, for Apollo 12 in November 1969. It was there for all six other moon launches and all 135 space shuttle launches. People watched that clock through a lot of suspenseful moments and a lot of weather delays.
"To keep it going, or parts which we have to make ourselves is just not practical," said George Diller, NASA Public Information Specialist)
The numerals are made of old fashioned 40-watt light bulbs similar to the kind once used in refrigerators. There are 336 of those bulbs.
Hodge changed every last one of those bulbs multiple times, "run through the numbers, make sure they all work short of the countdown. Do that for every launch. Make sure they all work."
A new clock, looking just like the old one but with fancy graphics and electronics, will be in place for next week's big Orion test launch. The old icon is on its way to the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex.
Copyright 2014 WESH via CNN. All rights reserved. | – After London's Big Ben, NASA says its Kennedy Space Center countdown clock was the world's most watched. Not anymore: It was taken down yesterday, WESH reports. The clock, with 336 40-watt light bulbs, has been around since November 1969, when it ticked away the seconds until the launch of Apollo 12, WCSC reports. But all those hundreds of bulbs have to be changed from time to time, and the clock requires checking before "every launch," says the man who has been in charge of the device for all but five of its 45 years. Its motors are kept cool with fans, its electronics have weathered storms, and it was corroded by salty air, MyFox Tampa Bay reports. These days, "to keep it going, or (use) parts which we have to make ourselves, is just not practical," a NASA rep says. Fortunately, the replacement version looks the same as its predecessor, just with modernized electronics. The old clock will make its new home at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, WESH notes, while the new one will be ready for an Orion launch next week. | [
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– An animal welfare officer in Oregon is getting attention after her body-worn camera captured her rescuing a baby deer. The Eugene Police Department on Thursday made public a video and photo of Officer Shawni McLaughlin freeing a terrified fawn that got stuck in a backyard fence, the AP reports. In the video, McLaughlin wraps the fawn's head in a towel and lifts it from between two narrow fence posts as she gently talks to the deer. The fawn lies on the ground for a few seconds after being freed, apparently not aware it can walk. McLaughlin pets it before it springs up and runs away. An open sore can be seen on the fawn's left hip. | [
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Splash News Online
Pierce Brosnan is returning to work following the death of his daughter , Charlotte, from ovarian cancer.The actor was seen on set Tuesday shooting action scenes in Belgrade, Serbia, for the upcoming film November Man, a spy thriller based on the novels by Bill Granger.According to a press release, the movie follows an ex-CIA operative who is brought back in on a dangerous mission, pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving CIA and Russian officials.Brosnan, 60, reportedly left the set to be with his daughter during her final days. Charlotte, who was 41, passed away in London on June 28."Charlotte fought her cancer with grace and humanity, courage and dignity," Brosnan, who lost his wife and Charlotte's mother to the same disease in 1991, said in a statement. "Our hearts are heavy with the loss of our beautiful dear girl. We pray for her and that the cure for this wretched disease will be close at hand soon," the actor continues. "We thank everyone for their heartfelt condolences." | – A bit of joyful news in the wake of Pierce Brosnan's daughter's death: She quietly married her boyfriend two weeks beforehand. Brosnan walked Charlotte, 42, down the aisle; her daughter Isabella, 15, was a bridesmaid. "It wasn’t a day to be sad," an attendee tells the Sun. "Alex [Smith, the groom] and Pierce were smiling broadly." Pierce Brosnan is already back to work, People reports. He was spotted in Serbia yesterday shooting scenes for spy thriller November Man. | [
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FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - T-Mobile USA, which plans to merge with MetroPCS, will have to overcome technology hurdles to be able to take on bigger rivals Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp.
Signage for a T-Mobile store is pictured in downtown Los Angeles, California in this August 31, 2011, file photo. REUTERS/Fred Prouser/Files
MetroPCS and T-Mobile USA, a Deutsche Telekom unit, said on Wednesday they hope to set themselves up as the leading provider of wireless services to cost-conscious U.S. customers by combining their assets.
But as their networks are incompatible, they will have to convince MetroPCS customers to move to T-Mobile’s network with the aim of shutting down the MetroPCS network by the end of 2015. And T-Mobile USA has to upgrade its network with high-speed services to catch up to bigger competitors, the companies said.
“This all adds up to a hugely complex and challenging migration that will take significant time and investment, and which is a major risk for derailing the benefits of the deal,” said Mike Roberts, principal analyst at research firm Informa.
MetroPCS shares, which rose 18 percent on Tuesday on reports that a deal was in the works, fell 9.8 percent to $12.24 as the reality of the challenges took hold.
Uncertainty about the deal’s implied valuation for MetroPCS also did not help. One analyst calculated the value as low as $11 per share, while another put it at $19.51. The stock has more than doubled to since mid-July.
T-Mobile USA parent Deutsche Telekom has been looking for a Plan B for the No.4 U.S. wireless network since its $39 billion attempt to sell T-Mobile USA to AT&T collapsed in late 2011 because of opposition from antitrust regulators.
Deutsche Telekom said on Wednesday that it will take a 74 percent stake in the combined company, with the deal structured as a reverse merger in which smaller MetroPCS will buy T-Mobile USA. MetroPCS will declare a 1 for 2 reverse stock split and make a cash payment of $1.5 billion to its shareholders.
The deal would allow Deutsche Telekom to maintain a presence in the U.S. market while unloading much of the financial strain of having to invest in T-Mobile USA, which has been losing customers.
The public listing will also offer the potential for the new company to raise capital on its own if needed and it will also give Deutsche Telekom a more liquid asset it could sell if it wants to exit the U.S. market.
The companies agreed on a broad framework for a deal during the summer and spent the last eight to 10 weeks putting the final agreement together, according to a source familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named due to a lack of authorization to speak to the media.
Deutsche Telekom shares closed up 0.1 percent at 1438 GMT on Wednesday, in-line with a 0.2 percent stronger German blue chip index in thin trading due to a public holiday there.
NETWORK CHALLENGES
The merger marks the long-awaited consolidation in the U.S. market, which is dominated by Verizon and AT&T. Sprint and T-Mobile USA take distant third and fourth places, and also compete with smaller companies, including MetroPCS and Leap Wireless.
Analysts say the deal, which awaits regulatory and shareholder approval, might force Sprint to put in a rival bid because it badly needs to grow its user base to continue to compete with Verizon and AT&T. Sprint has declined to comment.
Sprint, which has also been struggling to stem customer losses, tried to buy MetroPCS in February, but balked at the deal at the last minute because its board worried about the expense.
Sprint has never fully recovered from its 2005 purchase of Nextel, which was plagued by network integration problems and years of customer losses. It is finally planning to shut down Nextel’s network next year.
T-Mobile USA Chief Executive John Legere said Sprint’s problems have given him a perfect guide for what not-to-do.
“This is not a replay of a debacle that people have seen in the past. We will not smash together two networks with differing technology,” Legere, who will also head the new company, said on a call with analysts.
The deal, which requires approval from MetroPCS shareholders and regulators, is expected to close in the first half of 2013. The combined company, which will retain the T-Mobile name, will have 42.5 million subscribers.
If MetroPCS were to leave the deal, it would have to pay a $150 million break-up fee.
Legere, who took the top job at T-Mobile USA just two weeks ago, expects minimal customer losses during the network migration. If necessary, the company will offer customers financial incentives to move towards the end of 2015, he said.
While a stronger T-Mobile USA could pressure bigger providers to offer more competitive prices, Consumer Reports magazine said the elimination of MetroPCS could hurt competition for prepaid wireless services that are used by the country’s most price-sensitive customers.
Once Deutsche Telekom’s strongest growth engine, T-Mobile USA has lagged behind competitors in upgrading to high-speed wireless services and has been unable to get a deal with Apple Inc to sell its popular iPhone.
REVERSE MERGER
The new company will start with $18.6 billion in debt, of which $2.5 billion comes from MetroPCS. Analysts said that this would be a heavy load for the company. T-Mobile USA was already set to spend $4 billion on upgrading its network.
It will remain listed in New York, which analysts said would allow Deutsche Telekom to benefit from higher U.S. stock market valuations for what is effectively a T-Mobile USA spin-off.
U.S. regulators must still approve the deal, although analysts said they did not expect any major regulatory problems.
Braxton Carter, the current chief financial officer of MetroPCS, will become the CFO of the new company.
Deutsche Telekom said cost synergies from the combined company would have a net present value of $6 billion to $7 billion and, after 2017 synergies, would be worth $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion annually.
It added that it was targeting an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin of 34 percent to 36 percent for the new company by 2017, compared with T-Mobile USA’s adjusted EBITDA margin of 27.7 percent in the second quarter of this year.
Morgan Stanley and Lazard were financial advisers to Deutsche Telekom. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, K&L Gates, and Wiley Rein LLP were legal counsel.
J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse advised MetroPCS, while Evercore Partners and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP advised the special committee of the board of directors of MetroPCS. ||||| You need to enable Javascript to play media on Bloomberg.com Play
(Corrects spelling of Chetan Sharma’s name in 20th paragraph.)
Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE)’s plan to merge its T-Mobile USA division with MetroPCS (PCS) Communications Inc. is leaving Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) behind again.
The agreement to combine the U.S. wireless businesses into one company will give Deutsche Telekom a 74 percent stake, and MetroPCS shareholders will retain the rest, the companies announced today, following a Bloomberg News report about the talks yesterday. While Sprint Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse has said the third-largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier will play a role in industry consolidation, Stifel Financial Corp. says a tie-up between MetroPCS and T-Mobile USA will limit Sprint’s takeover options.
Even with its 109 percent stock gain this year topping the MSCI World Telecommunication Services Index, Sprint is trading at a 58 percent discount to sales, the lowest in the group, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sprint’s best remaining option to better compete with larger rivals AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Wireless may be to buy Leap Wireless (LEAP) International Inc., according to Wall Street Access. While Sprint won’t be forced to immediately do a deal, it could still try to merge with T-Mobile USA or buy spectrum from Dish Network Corp. (DISH) or Verizon Wireless, said Piper Jaffray Cos.
“It certainly pushes them into a corner,” Tom Burnett, director of research and vice chairman at New York-based Wall Street Access, which specializes in mergers and event-driven research, said in a telephone interview. “You can’t be an orphan in this industry. You’ve got to try and save a place at the table, and there’s going to be some movement here.”
Bill White, a spokesman for Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint, declined to comment on its possible next steps.
Gaining Scale
The supervisory board of Bonn-based Deutsche Telekom and Richardson, Texas-based MetroPCS’s board of directors approved the transaction, the companies said in a statement today. MetroPCS shareholders will get $1.5 billion in cash as part of the deal, and the combined entity will retain the T-Mobile name.
T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest U.S. carrier, is seeking to stem client losses and gain scale to better compete in a market dominated by AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone Group Plc. (VOD) The wireless giants each had more than 105 million subscribers as of June 30, more than three times T-Mobile USA’s 33.2 million, according to data from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
A combination with MetroPCS will give T-Mobile USA an additional 9.3 million prepaid customers, bringing it closer to No. 3 Sprint, which had 56.4 million subscribers, Bernstein data show.
Market Reaction
Shares of MetroPCS surged 18 percent yesterday to the highest level in 14 months after Bloomberg reported on the deal talks, increasing its market value to $4.9 billion.
Sprint’s stock slumped 5.4 percent yesterday, pushing its capitalization down to $14.7 billion. Sprint’s two-day stock drop of 11 percent is now the steepest in almost a year.
The carrier is in need of its own deal to bolster its subscriber base after the $36 billion takeover of Nextel Communications Inc. in 2005 left the company with incompatible networks, a shrinking customer base and five years of net losses.
Sprint’s closing price yesterday of $4.90 is less than a quarter of its value five years ago. The company is trading at 0.42 times its revenue in the last 12 months, compared with a median price-sales multiple of 1.17 for the 47 companies in the MSCI World Telecommunication Services Index, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Left Out
Even after Sprint boosted sales this year by offering the iPhone and began rolling out a faster network in a drive to return to profitability by 2014, CEO Hesse said in a Sept. 6 interview that the company is still “under-scaled.” He said consolidation “would be constructive” for the industry and that Sprint “will play a role in that some way.”
A tie-up between T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS “does leave them out in the cold a little bit,” Christopher King, a Baltimore-based analyst with Stifel, said in a phone interview.
The deal could put Sprint on the defensive, forcing the company to seek a deal with Leap in order to guard its position in the industry, Wall Street Access’s Burnett said. Shares of Leap rose as much as 17 percent yesterday, the biggest gain in almost four years, before finishing the day up 8.4 percent.
Leap, with 5.9 million prepaid subscribers at the end of second the quarter, is a “logical orphan” for Sprint, Burnett said in a phone interview. “Those are going to be the two guys kind of left at the dance without a chair to sit on.”
Greg Lund, a spokesman for San Diego-based Leap, declined to comment on whether the company would consider a takeover by Sprint.
Spectrum Purchases
Instead of seeking to buy a rival, Sprint could purchase radio waves, called spectrum, from companies such as Dish and Verizon Wireless to expand network coverage, said Chris Larsen, a New York-based analyst at Piper Jaffray.
Bob Toevs, a spokesman for Englewood, Colorado-based Dish, declined to comment. Robin Nicola, a spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless, said the company’s spectrum sale announced in April “is an open process and any potential buyers may participate.”
A marriage between T-Mobile USA and Sprint also can’t be ruled out as a possibility, even if T-Mobile USA goes ahead with a deal with MetroPCS, said Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless consultant who covers telecommunications from Issaquah, Washington.
“It doesn’t take T-Mobile off the table for Sprint,” he said in a phone interview. “It just increases the price tag for them if they were to acquire them further down the road.”
Deal Complications
A completed deal would it make more complicated for Sprint to attempt to buy the combined entity, Stifel’s King said.
“Even if they wanted to team up with T-Mobile and T-Mobile was an interested party, you’ve got a bigger T-Mobile now to swallow and you’re going to have to wait at least a year,” King said in a phone interview.
Instead, Sprint could try to preempt a combination by making a rival offer for MetroPCS, said Wall Street Access’s Burnett.
“Sprint might try to break up the party before it becomes a party,” Burnett said.
Zack Shafran, a money manager at Waddell & Reed Financial Inc., which oversees more than $90 billion including Sprint shares, said that even without a deal, Sprint is improving operations by rolling out its new network and working towards a return to profit, which may help the company better compete.
“The reason we’re investors in Sprint today and for the foreseeable future is the fact that they’re running the business better,” Shafran, who is based in Overland Park, Kansas, said in a phone interview. “Importantly, we think that’s their top priority.”
Failed Deals
Besides, deal talks in the telecommunications industry have a long history of not coming to fruition.
Sprint abandoned plans earlier this year to buy MetroPCS after the board rejected the transaction, which may have cost as much as $8 billion including debt, two people familiar with the plan said in February.
Sprint also held discussions with Deutsche Telekom about buying T-Mobile USA prior to the March 2011 announcement that AT&T offered to acquire the unit for $39 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time. U.S. regulatory scrutiny forced AT&T to abandon its bid for T-Mobile USA in December.
A deal with MetroPCS or Leap may not be enough to make either T-Mobile USA or Sprint a competitive threat to larger rivals, Piper Jaffray’s Larsen said.
“The problems that Sprint and T-Mobile have are that they’re not as big as AT&T and Verizon,” Larsen said in a phone interview. “They don’t have the scale so therefore it’s harder to compete. Increasing your size 25 percent, it helps. But when you’re less than half as big as you’re rival, getting 25 percent bigger narrows the gap, but it doesn’t close the gap.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Brooke Sutherland in New York at bsutherland7@bloomberg.net; Scott Moritz in New York at smoritz6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sarah Rabil at srabil@bloomberg.net; Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net | – Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile USA, has agreed to a merger with the smaller MetroPCS Communications, a move that inches the two struggling competitors closer to industry leaders Verizon and AT&T, reports Reuters. The company will retain the name T-Mobile, and Deutsche will hold 74% of the new business. The new company will now have 42.5 million subscribers—still a far cry from AT&T's 105 million and Verizon's 94 million. It's also trailing the No. 3 in the market, Sprint, which now finds itself in a tough position, reports Bloomberg. Sprint's CEO has said that the company was looking to take part in "industry consolidation," but with the new merger, there isn't much left for Sprint to gobble up. The move "pushes them into a corner," says one analyst. “You can’t be an orphan in this industry. You’ve got to try and save a place at the table, and there’s going to be some movement here.” | [
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President Barack Obama has decided not to release photographs of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's body, the White House said Wednesday.
The announcement came after a senior administration official told NBC News of the decision not to release post-mortem photos and Obama revealed the decision during an interview Wednesday with CBS' "60 Minutes."
The White House had been weighing the release of a photo, in part to offer proof that bin Laden was killed during a raid on his compound early Monday. However, officials had cautioned that the photo was gruesome and could prove inflammatory.
"It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool. That's not who we are. We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama told CBS News, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney.
"We don't need to spike the football. And I think that, given the graphic nature of these photos, it would create some national security risk," the president said, according to Carney's account.
Asked about his response to some people in Pakistan saying the United States was lying about having killed bin Laden, Obama said: "The truth is that we were monitoring worldwide reaction. There is no doubt that bin Laden is dead.
"Certainly there is no doubt among al-Qaida members that he is dead. And so we don't think that a photograph in and of itself will make a difference. There are going to be folks who will deny it."
Carney said there would not be images released of bin Laden's burial at sea, either.
The president decided against making the images public after a spirited debate within government over the potential impact of their release.
Ever since word of bin Laden's death broke, the administration has tried to strike a balance between celebrating the success of the dramatic covert operation without unnecessarily offending sensitivities in the Muslim world. Officials stressed that Muslim traditions were followed before bin Laden's body was buried at sea, for example.
There was support for releasing the photos from both ends of the spectrum: Some family members of those who died in the 9-11 terror attacks thought it important to document bin Laden's death, as did some skeptics in the Arab world who doubted his demise in the absence of convincing evidence.
But the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, said in advance of Obama's decision that he was concerned that the photographic images could be seen as a "trophy" that would inflame U.S. critics and makes it harder for members of the American military deployed overseas to do their job.
"Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway," Rogers told CBS News, "and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East."
Democratic House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said "there is no end served by releasing a picture of someone who has been killed. I think there is absolute proof that Osama bin Laden was in fact the person that was taken into custody... killed in the firefight."
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday that not releasing the photos is "a mistake" and will only prolong the debate over whether bin Laden is dead.
"The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of bin Laden's death," Graham said. "I know bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., backed Obama's decision, NBC News reported.
"I agree with President Obama that if there's a choice between protecting the security of our military and intelligence personnel and disproving conspiracy theories, it's an easy call," Reid said in a prepared statement. "The evidence collected leaves no doubt that Osama bin Laden is dead."
The photos have been described by several sources as gruesome. One shows part of the skull blown off, those sources say. A U.S. official said one consideration is that the photo also shows exposed brain matter.
Sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the photo is still part of a classified investigation.
The president made his decision as the Navy SEALS involved in the daring raid in Pakistan arrived in the U.S. for debriefing, and U.S. officials began to comb through the intelligence trove of computer files, flash drives, DVDs and documents that the commandos hauled out of the terrorist's hideaway.
Bin Laden had about 500 euros sewn into his clothes when he was killed and had phone numbers on him when he was killed, U.S. officials said, a possible indication that bin Laden was ready to flee the compound on short notice.
The decision comes a day after CIA director Leon Panetta said that a photo proving the death of bin Laden "would be presented to the public," but the comment quickly drew a response from the White House saying no decision has yet been made.
"The bottom line is that, you know, we got bin Laden and I think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him," Panetta said in an interview with Nightly News.
Panetta said the photos leave no question that bin Laden was killed. "Obviously I've seen those photographs," he said. "We've analyzed them and there's no question that it's bin Laden."
In July 2003, the U.S. took heat but also quieted most conspiracy theorists by releasing graphic photos of the corpses of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's two powerful sons to prove American forces had killed them.
So far, the U.S. has cited evidence that satisfied the Navy SEAL force, and at least most of the world, that they had the right man in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
The helicopter-borne raiding squad that swarmed the luxury compound identified bin Laden by appearance. A woman in the compound who was identified as his wife was said to have called out bin Laden's name in the melee.
Officials produced a quick DNA match from his remains that they said established bin Laden's identity, even absent the other techniques, with 99.9 percent certainty. U.S. officials also said bin Laden was identified through photo comparisons and other methods. ||||| Updated 6:19 p.m. Eastern Time
In an interview with Steve Kroft for this Sunday's "60 Minutes" conducted today, President Obama said he won't release post-mortem images of Osama bin Laden taken to prove his death.
"It is important to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool," said the president.
"We don't trot out this stuff as trophies," Mr. Obama added. "The fact of the matter is, this is somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received."
The president said he had discussed the issue with his intelligence team, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and that they agree with the decision. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that Mr. Obama made the decision today.
President Obama interviewed on "60 Minutes," May 4, 2011. / CBS
In explaining his choice not to release the photo, Mr. Obama said that "we don't need to spike the football." He said that "given the graphic nature of these photos it would create a national security risk."
The president told Kroft he saw the photos following the raid on the compound and knew that bin Laden had been killed.
"We discussed this internally," he said. "Keep in mind that we are absolutely certain that this was him. We've done DNA sampling and testing. And so there is no doubt that we killed Osama bin Laden."
When Kroft noted that there are people in Pakistan and elsewhere who believe bin Laden is still alive, the president said "we we monitoring worldwide reaction."
"There is no doubt that Osama bin Laden is dead," he said. "Certainly there is no doubt among al Qaeda members that he is dead. So we don't think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference."
"There are going to be some folks who deny it," he added. "The fact of the matter is, you will not see bin Laden walking on this earth again."
TRANSCRIPT: Obama discusses decision not to release images on "60 Minutes"
Asked about the decision Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Carney said "there are obviously arguments to be made on either side."
"The fact of the matter is, as the president described, these are graphic photographs of someone who was shot in the face -- the head, rather," he said. "It is not in our national security interests to allow those images, as has been in the past been the case, to become icons to rally opinion against the United States. The president's number one priority is the safety and security of American citizens at home and Americans abroad. There is no need to release these photographs to establish Osama bin Laden's identity. And he saw no other compelling reason to release them, given the potential for national security risks. And further, because he believes, as he said so clearly, this is not who we are." (See video at left.)
"He wanted to hear the opinions of others, but he was very clear about his view on this," Carney added. "And, obviously, his decision is categorical." He said it applied to "all visual evidence" of bin Laden's death, including video of his burial at sea.
Bin Laden news gives Obama 11-point approval bump
Bush declines Obama invitation to ground zero
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, called the decision a "mistake."
President Obama interviewed on "60 Minutes," May 4, 2011. / CBS News
"The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of bin Laden's death," he said.
Neil Livingstone, Chairman and CEO of Executive Action and author of nine books on terrorism, also disagreed with the decision.
"If we can't conclusively demonstrate that indeed he is dead there will be those who say he is still out there," he told CBS News. "Al Qaeda might even try to keep his legacy going and say 'they got someone else, they didn't really get him.'"
Sarah Palin registered her disapproval on Twitter.
"Show photo as warning to others seeking America's destruction. No pussy-footing around, no politicking, no drama;it's part of the mission," she wrote.
Palin to Obama: Stop pussyfooting, release photo
Osama bin Laden had cash, phone numbers sewn in clothes
White House changes story: Bin Laden unarmed
Cables: U.S. near bin Laden in '08, didn't know it
Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said earlier in the day that the Obama administration should not release the gruesome post- mortem images, saying it could complicate the job for American troops overseas. Rogers told CBS News he has seen a post-mortem photo.
"The risks of release outweigh the benefits," Rogers said. "Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East."
"Imagine how the American people would react if Al Qaeda killed one of our troops or military leaders, and put photos of the body on the Internet," Rogers continued. "Osama bin Laden is not a trophy - he is dead and let's now focus on continuing the fight until Al Qaeda has been eliminated."
Many in Congress happy bin Laden photos won't be released
President Barack Obama delivers a statement in the East Room of the White House on the mission against Osama bin Laden, May 1, 2011. / White House/Pete Souza
Skeptics have called on the United States to release photos of bin Laden, who officials say was shot in the face during a raid on his compound, in order to prove that the al Qaeda leader is really dead.
The White House had said it was debating whether to release the photographs. CIA director Leon Panetta told CBS News Tuesday that he thought a photo would be released, though he said the White House would make the final decision.
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin has been told the photographs are "very gruesome" and won't be for the "squeamish."
"I've had it described to me and it does sound very gruesome," he said. "Remember, bin Laden was shot twice at close range, once in the chest and once in the head, right above his left eye, and that bullet opened his skull, exposing the brain, and it also blew out his eye. So these are not going to be pictures for the squeamish."
Two Republican senators -- Saxby Chambliss, R-GA, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, a member of the Armed Services Committee - told CBS News Wednesday they had seen post-mortem photographs of bin Laden. No Democrats have said they have seen the images.
Photoshopped images purporting to show bin Laden after he was killed have already surfaced on the Internet. Sen. Scott Brown, R-MA, who had claimed to have seen the actual post-mortem photos, said Wednesday that he had been fooled by one such false image. It appears Ayotte and Chambliss may also have been duped.
Special Report: The killing of Osama bin Laden | – President Obama has decided not to release grisly photos of Osama bin Laden's body. Obama himself tells Steve Kroft of his decision in a 60 Minutes interview to air Sunday, reports CBS News. Excerpts will be out later today. The decision—NBC reported it earlier today—comes after CIA chief Leon Panetta suggested an image would be out soon. But the White House apparently decided that the potential backlash would outweigh the benefits of offering definitive proof of the killing. Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates had argued against the release. | [
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President Trump said earlier this month that he would make Kim Jong Un "truly regret" harming the United States or its allies. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
President Trump said that “all options are on the table” following North Korea’s latest missile launch early Tuesday, this one fired over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean in the most brazen provocation of Kim Jong Un's five-year-long rule.
“The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: This regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior,” Trump said Tuesday morning in a statement. “Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table.”
[North Korea’s latest launch designed to cause maximum mayhem, minimal blowback]
Despite the grave warning, Trump’s statement was notably measured in contrast to his response to previous tests of ballistic missile launches by North Korea. After a recent spate, he promised “fire and fury” if the isolated nation continued to provoke the United States.
During his stay at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club on Aug. 8, President Trump said North Korea "will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen" if they continue making nuclear "threats." (Reuters)
Trump also said earlier this month that he would make Kim “truly regret” harming the United States or its allies.
As he walked from the White House to Marine One, en route to survey hurricane damage in Texas, Trump paused briefly to answer a reporter’s question about what he plans to do about North Korea.
“We’ll see, we’ll see,” he said.
Trump's statement came more than 12 hours after White House aides had signaled a statement by the president was in the works.
The Japanese prime minister’s office said Shinzo Abe and Trump talked by phone for 40 minutes after the launch, agreeing that they should increase pressure on North Korea.
The missile appears to have been a Hwasong-12, the intermediate-range ballistic missile technically capable of flying 3,000 miles that North Korea has been threatening to launch toward the U.S. territory of Guam.But North Korea launched Tuesday’s missile to the east, over Hokkaido and into the Pacific rather than on a southward path toward Guam, apparently to test its flight on a normal trajectory without crossing a “red line” of aiming at the United States.
North Korea fired a missile on Aug. 29 that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean. (Reuters)
Still, this launch, coming after North Korea last month launched two intercontinental ballistic missiles theoretically capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, underscore both Kim's defiance of the international community and his determination to press ahead with his missile program. Kim has now ordered the launch of 18 missiles this year alone, compared with the 16 missiles his father, Kim Jong Il, fired during 17 years in power.
The U.N. Security Council confirmed that it would hold an emergency meeting in New York on Tuesday to discuss the latest provocation. Missile launches and nuclear tests are banned by the U.N. Security Council, but North Korea has paid no attention to its resolutions.
Kim’s government had been threatening to fire a missile to land near Guam, which is home to two huge U.S. military bases, by the middle of this month. However, Kim later said that after reviewing the plans, he would “watch the Yankees a little longer” before making a decision about whether to launch.
After the Guam threat, Trump warned North Korea that “things will happen to them like they never thought possible” should the isolated country attack the United States or its allies.
With no missile launches during the first three weeks of August, the Trump administration had suggested that its tough talk was working. At a campaign-style rally in Phoenix last week, Trump alluded to his earlier rhetoric on North Korea, telling a boisterous crowd that Kim was “starting to respect” the United States.
“I respect the fact that I believe he is starting to respect us,” Trump said at the rally. “I respect that fact very much. Respect that fact.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a similar argument at the time, saying that he was pleased “to see that the regime in Pyongyang has certainly demonstrated some level of restraint that we've not seen in the past.”
Those comments came before North Korea's firing of three short-range missiles Friday.
Asked during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” if he still stood by his and Trump’s assessments, Tillerson said, “I don’t know that we’re wrong. I think it's going to take some time to tell."
Fifield reported from Tokyo. ||||| Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to journalists at his official residence in Tokyo after North Korea's firing of a projectile over Japan Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017. North Korea fired a ballistic... (Associated Press)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In a first, North Korea on Tuesday fired a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload that flew over Japan and splashed into the northern Pacific Ocean, officials said. The aggressive missile launch — likely the longest ever from North Korea — over the territory of a close U.S. ally sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile traveled around 2,700 kilometers (1,677 miles) and reached a maximum height of 550 kilometers (341 miles) as it traveled over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The distance and type of missile tested seemed designed to show that North Korea can back up a threat to target the U.S. territory of Guam, if it chooses to do so, while also establishing a potentially dangerous precedent that could see future missiles flying over Japan.
Any new test worries Washington and its allies because it presumably puts North Korea a step closer to its goal of an arsenal of nuclear missiles that can reliably target the United States. Tuesday's test, however, looks especially aggressive to Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.
North Korea has conducted launches at an unusually fast pace this year — 13 times, Seoul says — and some analysts believe it could have viable long-range nuclear missiles before the end of U.S. President Donald Trump's first term in early 2021.
Seoul says that while North Korea has twice before fired rockets it said were carrying satellites over Japan — in 1998 and 2009 — it has never before used a ballistic missile, which is unambiguously designed for military strikes. North Korea also chose not to fire its most recent missile at a lofted angle, as it did in previous launches to avoid other countries, and Seoul's spy service said the North launched from an unusual spot: the international airport in its capital, Pyongyang. The South Korean military was analyzing whether North Korea had launched a Hwasong-12, a new intermediate-range missile that it recently threatened to fire into waters near Guam, which hosts a major U.S. military base that the North considers a threat.
The launch is also another rebuke to Trump, who suggested last week that his tough approach to North Korea, which included threats to unleash "fire and fury," meant leader Kim Jong Un "is starting to respect us."
Tuesday's missile landed nowhere near Guam, but firing a Hwasong-12 (Hwasong is Korean for Mars, or Fire Star) so soon after the Guam threat may be a way for North Korea to show it could follow through if it chose to do so. Guam is 3,400 kilometers (2,110 miles) away from North Korea, but South Korea's military said the North may have fired the most recent missile at a shorter range.
South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that North Korea fired the missile from an airfield at Pyongyang's international airport. Some outside observers said launching a road-mobile missile from an airport runway could demonstrate the North's ability to fire its missiles from anywhere in the country. It was not immediately clear what the launch meant for the few civilian flights that use the airport.
The National Intelligence Service also told lawmakers it was unclear whether the missile's warhead survived atmospheric re-entry, according to the office of Kim Byung-kee, a lawmaker in attendance.
Separately, the spy agency said North Korean leader Kim's third child was born in February, but provided no other details.
North Korea will no doubt be watching the world's reaction to see if it can use Tuesday's flight over Japan as a precedent for future launches.
Trump issued a statement saying that North Korea had signaled its "contempt for its neighbors" and that "all options are on the table" in terms of a U.S. response.
Japanese officials made their usual strongly worded condemnations of the launch.
"We will do our utmost to protect people's lives," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. "This reckless act of launching a missile that flies over our country is an unprecedented, serious and important threat."
Tokyo said there was no reported damage from the missile, which Japan's NHK TV said separated into three parts. Residents on Hokkaido were warned of a North Korean missile launch by an alert on their cellphones, with loud alarms and an email that told people to stay indoors. Speakers broadcast an alert saying "missile is passing, missile is passing."
A U.S. congressman visiting Seoul said Washington is now pressuring North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions by shutting down the impoverished country's access to hard currency, the lifeblood of its expensive weapons program.
The goal is to offer international banks that do business with North Korea a choice between bankruptcy and freezing North Korean accounts, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview after meeting with South Korean leaders.
Tuesday's launch comes days after North Korea fired what was assessed as three short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, and a month after its second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts say could reach deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.
In an unusual move, the military in Seoul released videos of three South Korean missile tests conducted last week. They showed two types of new missiles with ranges of 800 kilometers (500 miles) and 500 kilometers (310 miles) being fired from truck-mounted launchers.
South Korea's Agency for Defense Development said the launches represented the last flight test for the longer-range missile before it is operationally deployed. Such missiles, which would be the latest additions to South Korea's Hyumoo family of missiles, are considered key components of the so-called "kill chain" pre-emptive strike capability that South Korea is pursuing to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threat.
South Korea also said its air force conducted a live-fire drill involving four F-15 fighter jets dropping eight MK-84 bombs that accurately hit targets at a military field near the country's eastern coast. Yoon Young-chan, chief press secretary of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said the exercise was conducted after Moon directed the military to "display a strong capability to punish" North Korea if need be.
The North's launch over Japan shouldn't be a total surprise. Earlier this month, when threatening to lob four Hwasong-12s into the waters near Guam, North Korea specifically said they would fly over Japanese territory. North Korea in June also angrily reacted to the launch of a Japanese satellite it said was aimed at spying on the North and said Tokyo was no longer entitled to fault North Korea "no matter what it launches or whether that crosses the sky above Japan."
North Korea typically reacts with anger to U.S.-South Korean military drills, which are happening now, often testing weapons and threatening Seoul and Washington in its state-controlled media. But animosity is higher than usual following threats traded between Trump and the North.
North Korea regularly says U.S.-South Korean military drills are a rehearsal for invasion, and North Korea's U.N. ambassador, Ja Song Nam, wrote recently that the exercises are "provocative and aggressive" at a time when the Korean Peninsula is "like a time bomb."
Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean military official who is now an analyst at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said early flight information suggests the North Korean missile was likely a Hwasong-12. Other possibilities, he said, include a midrange Musudan, a missile with a potential 3,500-kilometer (2,180-mile) range that puts much of the Asia-Pacific region within reach, or a Pukguksong-2, a solid-fuel missile that can be fired faster and more secretly than weapons using liquid fuel.
North Korea first fired over Japanese territory in August of 1998 when a multistage rocket that outside experts called "Taepodong-1" flew about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) before landing in the Pacific Ocean. The North later said it had launched a satellite; after initially saying North Korea had launched a ballistic missile, South Korea years later said it was a space launch attempt.
North Korea flew another rocket over Japan again in April 2009 and said that, too, was carrying a satellite. The North claimed success, but the U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command said no satellite reached orbit. Some parts of a space launch vehicle reportedly flew over Okinawa last year after separating from the rocket.
___
Associated Press writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report. | – North Korea's provocative new missile launch has prompted an early morning warning from President Trump in which he says that "all options are on the table." Trump doesn't offer specifics but chastises Pyongyang for launching a ballistic missile that flew over Japan. "The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior," said the presidential statement, per the Washington Post. In its coverage for the North's test launch, the New York Times characterized Pyongyang's move as a "direct challenge" to Trump, who said last week that the North was "starting to respect us" after Trump began talking tough. Trump spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday night, and afterward Abe told reporters that Japan and the US were "completely matched" in their stances and would discuss ways to increase international pressure on the North. Pyongyang has twice before fired missiles over Japan, in 1998 and in 2009, but it said afterward that those missiles were carrying satellites. The AP reports that the latest launch involved a midrange ballistic missile, which is "unambiguously" for military purposes, unlike the two earlier missile launches. | [
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An Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Washington, DC, Monday morning was powered with a jet fuel blend containing 20 percent renewable biofuel made from the leftovers of Pacific Northwest logging. The biofuel remains much more expensive than regular jet fuel derived from oil.
An Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Washington, D.C., on Monday morning was powered with a jet-fuel blend containing 20 percent renewable biofuel made from Pacific Northwest forest residuals — the limbs and branches that remain after the harvesting of managed forests.
Billed as the first commercial flight running partly on wood, the alternative jet fuel was produced through the research efforts of the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA). Led by Washington State University, the group aims to build a sustainable supply chain for aviation biofuel using the leavings from logging operations.
The wood came from Washington, Oregon and Montana, including forests managed by Weyerhaeuser, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes.
Biofuels company Gevo used patented technologies to convert cellulosic sugars derived from wood waste into renewable isobutanol at a fermentation facility in St. Joseph, Mo., then further converted that at its biorefinery in Silsbee, Texas.
The resultant fuel is certified as equivalent to regular aircraft-jet fuel produced from oil.
Alaska used 1,080 gallons of the biofuel on the flight. The airline said that replacing 20 percent of its entire fuel supply at Sea-Tac Airport with the same fuel would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by about 142,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.
However, for now the biofuel remains much more expensive than regular jet fuel, so it won’t be used for day-to-day flying.
In a September financial filing, Gevo said it aims to get the selling price of its pre-refined isobutanol product down to between $3.50 and $4.50 per gallon this year, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
That compares with crude oil, which sells for about $1.05 per gallon.
Alaska spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said “the NARA group is not breaking cost down” but conceded it’s “priced at a premium.”
Gevo’s latest filing also warns there is “substantial doubt” about the company’s future, “which may hinder our ability to obtain further financing” and continue operations. For the first nine months of 2016, Gevo lost $35 million on revenue of $21 million.
Among the passengers on Monday’s flight was Leah Grace, deputy press secretary for U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
“As a passenger on this flight, I can confirm it was very pleasant, but unfortunately did not smell like Christmas trees,” Grace tweeted after landing. ||||| We are dedicated to delivering low carbon sustainable fuels and chemicals. CO2, THE greenhouse gas is our renewable carbon source. We know it’s possible to replace the non-sustainable, greenhouse gas generating fossil carbon-based chemicals and fuels used all across the world today with renewable carbon alternatives. Our technologies make it possible.
We want it all: fuels for cars, airplanes, trucks, small engines, boats, and ships. We want to replace the carbon source for major packaging plastics like polyester and polypropylene. Done right, we enable production of protein that helps feed the world. With sustainable farming, we can help farmers capture CO2 in the soil, improving soil quality. Together, with our customers and partners we can change what’s possible, and do our part to positively change the world. ||||| An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 became the first commercial flight to be powered on a biofuel blend made from forest residuals. The flight on Monday, Nov. 14, 2016 flew from Sea-Tac Airport to Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. (Photo: KOMO News)
SEA-TAC AIRPORT, Wash - Alaska Airlines made history on Monday with the first commercial flight that used renewable, alternative jet fuel made from forest residuals.
The Boeing 737 jet flew from Sea-Tac Airport to Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. with fuel made from a blend of tree limbs and branches.
"The jet fuel itself is 20 percent blend of petroleum and renewables," said Glenn Johnston from Gevo, Inc. "This is the future of being able to reduce our greenhouse gas footprint."
The material is the byproduct of a timber harvest and usually heads for the burn pile with other waste.
The fuel for the flight came from local tribal lands and private forest operations and was produced through the efforts of Washington State University and the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA).
"[It is] the first commercial airline flight to be powered by certified, sustainable, bio-jet fuel, produced from wood and other wood materials that are the result of timber harvesting on managed forest lands," said NARA executive director Ralph Cavaleri Cavalier, who is also the Vice President for Research at WSU.
The project started five years ago, funded by a $40 million federal grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Replacing 20 percent of the fuel used to power Alaska Airlines planes at Sea-Tac would reduce carbon emissions equal to 30,000 cars a year.
"Hopefully it's something that will be sustainable and last for a long time that we can continue to improve this technology and get more efficiency out of it," said passenger Steven Wright.
Funding is still needed to put the fuel in daily flights, not just demonstrations.
Right now, the biofuel blend is more expensive than jet fuel. But, the hope is that production and material costs will come down in the next few years.
"It really is the dawn of a new day when it comes to aviation and biofuels," said Port of Seattle Commissioner Jon Creighton "We understand that we have a responsibility to our local communities to move the ball forward."
| – On Monday, an Alaska Airlines jet flew into the history books as the first commercial flight to use a "renewable, alternative jet fuel made from forest residuals," as KOMO News puts it. In other words: Tree limbs and branches, the byproducts of the timber harvest that typically would have been burned as waste, made up some of the fuel that powered the Boeing 737 along its journey from Seattle's Sea-Tac Airport to Washington DC's Reagan National. "The jet fuel itself is 20% blend of petroleum and renewables," says a representative of biofuel company Gevo, which was involved in the project. "This is the future of being able to reduce our greenhouse gas footprint." The project, which used wood from local tribal lands and private forest operations, began five years ago. Washington State University and the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance worked on it with a $40 million federal grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The jet fuel containing wood products is rated as equivalent to regular jet fuel, the Seattle Times reports. If all of Alaska Airlines' planes at Sea-Tac saw 20% of their fuel replaced with the biofuel, it would reduce carbon emissions equal to those produced by 30,000 cars per year, but more funding is needed before the fuel can be used regularly because it's currently more expensive than jet fuel. | [
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Something funny happened the day before Azerbaijan's presidential election: The election commission announced the winner.
Supporters of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev celebrate his victory in the presidential elections in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Azerbaijan’s president won a third five-year term by... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev celebrate his victory in the presidential elections in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Azerbaijan’s president won a third five-year term by... (Associated Press)
An Azeri woman holds her ballot paper as she stands in voting cabin at a polling station in Nardaran, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Oil-rich Azerbaijan is... (Associated Press)
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev seen during the voting at a polling station in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Oil-rich Azerbaijan is booming and the wealth is trickling down to its poorest... (Associated Press)
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev leaves a polling station in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Oil-rich Azerbaijan is booming and the wealth is trickling down to its poorest people. It all means... (Associated Press)
An Azeri man casts his ballot as official looks on at a polling station in Nardaran, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Oil-rich Azerbaijan is booming and the... (Associated Press)
Azeri women cast their ballot papers at a polling station in Nardaran, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Oil-rich Azerbaijan is booming and the wealth is trickling... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev celebrate his victory in the presidential elections in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Azerbaijan’s president won a third five-year term by... (Associated Press)
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, right, listens to unidentified official after voting at a polling station in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Oil-rich Azerbaijan is booming and the wealth... (Associated Press)
A voter reads a ballot paper as he stands in voting cabin at a polling station in Nardaran, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Oil-rich Azerbaijan is booming... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev celebrate his victory in the presidential elections in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Azerbaijan’s president won a third five-year term by... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev celebrate his victory in the presidential elections in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Azerbaijan’s president won a third five-year term by... (Associated Press)
Supporters of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev celebrate his victory in the presidential elections in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Azerbaijan’s president won a third five-year term by... (Associated Press)
On Tuesday, a day before the voting began, the smartphone app of the Central Election Commission released results showing President Ilham Aliyev, whose family has been at the helm of the Caspian Sea nation for four decades, winning 73 percent of the vote.
After the polls closed on Wednesday, the commission said Aliyev had won 85 percent of the vote. His closest contender, Jamil Hasanli, trailed with less than 6 percent, it said.
The commission apologized for the early result, saying Thursday it had been only a test at one polling station conducted by the software developer. It expressed "deep regret" for the "misunderstanding."
Hasanli called the vote rigged and demanded a new election.
"Ilham Aliyev has no right to represent the Azerbaijani people," he said. "This election doesn't reflect the people's will."
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Thursday the election was marred by restrictions during the campaign and serious violations during the voting and during the counting of votes.
The vote "was undermined by limitations on the freedoms of expression, assembly and association that didn't guarantee a level playing field for candidates," the group said.
It cited detentions, criminal prosecutions, reports of physical attacks and other pressure on journalists as well as disproportionate media coverage of the president.
On voting day, the OSCE said its monitors reported ballot-box stuffing in 37 polling stations. It also called the vote count "overwhelmingly negative, with 58 percent of the observed polling stations assessed as bad or very bad." |||||
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev votes in Baku on Wednesday. (AFP/Getty Images)
Update, Oct. 28: This post has been updated to reflect the government of Azerbaijan's official statements.
Azerbaijan's big presidential election, held on Wednesday, was anticipated to be neither free nor fair. President Ilham Aliyev, who took over from his father 10 years ago, has stepped up intimidation of activists and journalists. Rights groups are complaining about free speech restrictions and one-sided state media coverage. The BBC's headline for its story on the election reads "The Pre-Determined President." So expectations were pretty low.
Even still, one expects a certain ritual in these sorts of authoritarian elections, a fealty to at least the appearance of democracy, if not democracy itself. So it was a bit awkward when Azerbaijan's election authorities released vote results – a full day before voting had even started.
The vote counts – spoiler alert: Aliyev was shown as heading toward a landslide – were pushed out on an official smartphone app run by the Central Election Commission. It showed Aliyev as "winning" 72.76 percent of the votes, although with only about 15,000 votes cast, as Azerbaijani officials later noted as part of their defense that the results had been partial and a test run. That share is on track with his official vote counts in previous elections: he won ("won"?) 76.84 percent of the vote in 2003 and 87 percent in 2008.
The Azerbaijani Central Election Commission sent out these vote totals to its official smartphone app before voting started. (meydan.tv)
In second place was opposition candidate Jamil Hasanli with 7.4 percent of the vote. Hasanli had recently appealed to the Central Election Commission for paid airtime on state TV, arguing that Aliyev gets heavy airtime and the opposition does not. He was denied.
The data were quickly recalled. Initially, the official story was that the app's developer had mistakenly sent out the 2008 election results as part of a test. But that's a bit flimsy, given that the released totals show the candidates from this week, not from 2008.
Government officials later defended the release, which they noted shows fewer than 15,000 votes in a country of 9 million. They said it had been only a trial run, posted in error, showing hypothetical results from one small electoral district.
You might call this a sort of Kinsley gaffe on a national scale. (A Kinsley gaffe, named for journalist Michael Kinsley, is when a politician gets in trouble for saying something that's widely known as true but that he isn't supposed to say.) There's supposed to be a certain ritual to an election like Azerbaijan's: demonstrations are put down, reporters are harassed, opposition candidates are whittled down, supporters are ushered to the polls and then Aliyev's sweeping victory is announced. They got the order wrong here.
As of this writing, Azerbaijan's election authorities say they've counted 80 percent of the ballots, with Aliyev winning just under 85 percent of the vote so far. He's been officially reelected.
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• An infographic guide to Syria’s chemical weapons and how they work
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• This Jon Stewart episode is everything wrong with how we talk about Syria ||||| Azerbaijan election: the pre-determined president
Protests against the government have been stifled
Continue reading the main story Related Stories
Azerbaijan elects a president on Wednesday in what human rights organisations say is a stifling atmosphere of intimidation.
Ilham Aliyev, who has run the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic since he succeeded his father 10 years ago, is standing for a third term.
During his presidency, allegations of high-level corruption, the subversion of democracy and the stifling of dissent have been rife, with reports of politically motivated arrests shooting up drastically in the last two years.
The pre-election period has, nonetheless, been a relatively calm one.
But it is "post-election disorder" that worries the authorities, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a recent report.
In custody
Riots over corruption in regions like Ismayilli and Quba in January were seen as a sign of major public discontent with regional governors and, in effect, the ruling elite.
In Ismayilli, the governor's son's car and hotel were set on fire after he reportedly insulted the residents.
It was a small wave of unrest, but clearly worried the authorities and the repercussions continue. Ilgar Mammadov, a human rights defender and leader of the political movement ReAL who went to the region after the unrest erupted, was charged in February with causing mass unrest.
While his trial is pending, he put forward his candidacy for the elections - which was rejected due to "invalid signatures". Mr Mammadov is one of 14 people described by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan.
Human rights organisations put the number of political prisoners between the tens and the hundreds.
Seven of them are leading members of the youth movement Nida, who were detained in April while protesting against corruption and face charges of causing mass unrest and possessing illegal firearms.
They are known for their frequent posts on Facebook and Twitter about alleged government corruption and human rights abuses.
Azeri political analyst Rashad Shirinov told the BBC that Nida was "one of the most active and vivid youth forces" in the country and could have had an impact on the campaign had its leader not been arrested.
Around the same time as the Nida arrests, Dashgin Melikov, an asthmatic young activist critical of the government, was also charged with illegal drugs possession and sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
Until last week, he was a member of one of two major opposition parties, the Azerbaijani Popular Front.
Mr Aliyev has already served two terms
But then in an open letter he wrote from prison, Mr Melikov renounced his party and declared his support for Ilham Aliyev. His father told BBC Azeri that his son's illness was a factor in his decision - and that he had been promised freedom in return.
The government insists that nobody is imprisoned for their political activities, and that their activism does not mean that they are not criminals.
Yet according to Human Rights Watch, the Azerbaijani authorities use "spurious drug possession charges to lock up political activists critical of the government" ahead of the elections.
Contenders
The main competition to Ilham Aliyev comes from former MP Professor Jamil Hasanli, a candidate from the National Council opposition bloc. For the first time in more than two decades the in-fighting within the main opposition, already seen as weak, was put aside to choose a single candidate. According to Shirinov, this in itself is an achievement.
He says that there are a number of fake candidates, installed by the ruling elite to confuse the citizenry, to counter the opposition's candidate. "This is very visible during the TV debates when all other candidates attack Jamil Hasanli," he says.
A spokesman for the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, Aydin Mirzazadeh, dismisses these allegations, saying that every vote for another candidate is a vote against the government, and Azerbaijan's Central Election Committee (CEC) boasts of pluralism.
But one of the main election observers, the OSCE, has been critical of the election environment from the start, saying there has been little substantive debate, unjustified restriction of freedom of speech and imbalanced media coverage.
In addition to Ilgar Mammadov's disqualification, a second prominent candidate, popular cinematographer Rustam Ibrahimbayov, has been barred because of his dual Russian citizenship.
Three terms
Ilham Aliyev changed the constitution through a referendum in 2009 which got rid of the two-term limit for presidents, allowing him to stand for re-election this year.
The opposition, however, argues that the candidacy is invalid because the constitution was changed after Mr Aliyev was sworn in as president in his second term.
Prof Hasanli has formally complained to the CEC, with sources close to him saying the case will go "to the highest courts".
Observers believe there is only one conceivable outcome from the election - another term for President Aliyev.
Yet after the unprecedented outbursts of violence against corruption in Azerbaijan's regions, it is the period immediately after the election that will determine how popular Ilham Aliyev really is. | – Voting for the next president of Azerbaijan wasn't supposed to start until yesterday—but the day before, results were already amazingly posted on a Central Election Commission smartphone app. The app said incumbent president Ilham Aliyev was winning with 73% of the vote, continuing his family's decades-long reign (the Washington Post has a screenshot). The early results were quickly removed, and when actual voting commenced, the commission said Aliyev had managed 85% of the vote, compared to the runner-up's 6%. The election was never actually expected to be free or fair, the Post notes. Today, the commission apologized for the advance result, claiming it was spurred by software testing. But runner-up Jamil Hasanli wasn't satisfied. "This election doesn't reflect the people's will," he said. Outside observers cited a deeply flawed voting process, including "limitations on the freedoms of expression, assembly, and association that didn't guarantee a level playing field for candidates," the AP reports. Political activists in the country have been falsely imprisoned, says Human Rights Watch; and an analyst says fake candidates ganged up on Hasanli during debates, the BBC reports. Officials fear "post-election disorder," monitors say, following anti-corruption riots earlier this year. | [
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(CNN) -- An electrical fire on board a Boeing Dreamliner caused the plane to lose primary electrical power during a test flight Tuesday, the company said.
The crew relied upon backup systems to land the aircraft.
"The pilots executed a safe landing and at all times had positive control of the airplane and all of the information necessary to perform that safe landing," Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter said Wednesday.
Boeing is analyzing flight data from the plane, a process it says will take several days, to determine the exact cause of the fire. The company's initial inspection of the aircraft indicated damage to a power control panel in the rear of the aircraft.
Boeing employees were conducting a test of a system designed to prevent fires when smoke began filling the back of the cabin of the next-generation 787 Dreamliner, according to the company.
The crew was testing a "nitrogen generation system," which separates nitrogen from ambient air and pumps it into fuel tanks as jet fuel is burned during a flight, Boeing said.
The system is designed to prevent oxygen from filling the empty space and potentially igniting the fuel. There is no indication, however, that Tuesday's fire was caused by the nitrogen generation system, according to Boeing spokesman Jim Proulx.
Boeing is grounding its entire fleet of test Dreamliners pending results of its analysis of hundreds of different data measurements to determine the cause of the fire.
The Dreamliner departed from Yuma, Arizona. After about six hours of flight, smoke entered the cabin as the plane was on approach to Laredo, Texas.
"It's something that needs to be taken very seriously," said Proulx. "We need to know what happened before we can determine the likelihood of its repeatability."
The 42 people aboard evacuated using the plane's emergency slides, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Lynn Lunsford said. One person was injured during the evacuation.
"We are continuing to gather data regarding this event," Gunter said in a statement. "It's too early to tell what may have gone wrong."
The plane is the second of six test Dreamliners, having undergone 179 flights and 558 hours of flight, according to Boeing data posted on its website. The company does not intend to sell the test plane to any airline customers.
Boeing says it still intends to deliver the first 787-08 Dreamliner to ANA Airlines in the middle of the first quarter of next year. ANA has 55 Dreamliners on order, which Boeing plans to deliver over the course of several years.
The Dreamliner is Boeing's new passenger jet, touted as a highly fuel-efficient aircraft made largely with composite materials.
It made its maiden flight in December 2009 after two years of delays, but the head of Boeing's commercial aircraft division told CNN in July that the Dreamliner could still make its debut in early 2011.
The company has nearly 900 orders for the jet around the world.
Aviation experts say Boeing's testing problems are not indicative of the Dreamliner's ultimate safety.
"If I were a prospective passenger in a 787 I wouldn't be concerned," said Snorri Gudmundsson, assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. "All these bugs will be weeded out."
"Boeing is quite thorough, not just because of requirements from the FAA but because of Boeing's position in the industry," added Todd Curtis, a former Boeing electrical engineer.
CNN's Frances Causey and Jason Kessler contributed to this report. ||||| Associated Press A Boeing 787 Dreamliner flies over Farnborough airport before landing ahead of the Farnborough International Airshow on July 18.
A Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner on Tuesday made an emergency landing in Laredo, Texas, after the crew reported smoke in the cabin during a test flight.
The second plane of Boeing's six-member test fleet was on a planned flight from Yuma, Ariz., and making its approach to the Texas border city when a fire broke out at the rear of the cabin at about 2:50 p.m. local time.
The crew of 42 Boeing flight-test employees onboard used the jet's emergency slides to evacuate, officials said.
Dreamliner Deferred Boeing's long-awaited 787 Dreamliner has been dogged with problems. See stock price, key events and, in red, production delays. View Interactive
Emergency crews on the ground responded and extinguished the remainder of flames inside the aircraft.
A company spokeswoman said there was one minor injury during the evacuation. Boeing said data from the aircraft was being taken to Seattle—the center of the company's commercial aircraft operations—for analysis. It said in a statement that determining what happened "will take some time to accomplish."
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Texas said the agency will also be looking at the incident.
The incident comes as Boeing pursues a tight timetable to complete testing and certification of the 787 after a series of design and production issues left the program running almost three years behind schedule.
According to a person familiar with the matter, as the jet was flying at 1,000 feet during the approach to Laredo, the Dreamliner's crew reported a fire, possibly in the plane's rear electronics bay. Subsequently, the 787's emergency auxiliary power unit, known as a ram air turbine, deployed as a result of at least a partial power failure.
Some of the plane's automated systems, including the auto-throttle and cockpit flight displays and electronics-assisted flight controls, were affected, this person said. The pilots also canceled their instrument flight plan and proceeded to land under visual flight rules. Boeing said the pilot did not lose primary flight displays.
According to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com, the Dreamliner had departed Yuma, Ariz., at 7:42 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. It was expected to land in Laredo sometime on Tuesday afternoon after a flight of several hours testing the Dreamliner's nitrogen-generation system, a new safety measure designed to reduce the risk of fire in the plane's fuel tanks.
The state-of-the-art 787, which is made largely of carbon-fiber composite material, depends heavily on its vast and complex electrical system.
Unlike most modern commercial airliners, the Dreamliner uses electrical systems to operate many functions on the plane that are typically powered by excess air from the engines, known as a bleed air system.
Boeing executives have touted the levels of electronic and computer redundancies built into the plane's design. It appears that some of the electrical systems may have failed after the fire.
The test Dreamliner jet is painted in the color scheme of Japan's All Nippon Airways Co., the first customer for the new airliner, though the test jet isn't slated for delivery to the airline.
Boeing last year said the first three Dreamliner test aircraft have been too heavily modified for commercial service. The plane is equipped with Rolls-Royce PLC's Trent 1000 engines, which have come under scrutiny in recent months after a series of problems with the engines both on flying test aircraft and at Rolls-Royce's ground testing facility in Derby, England.
Tuesday's emergency was unrelated to its engines, a person familiar with the incident said.
On Monday, Rolls-Royce, which is at the center of last week's mishap involving one of its engines on a Qantas Airways Ltd. Airbus A380 superjumbo jet, issued a statement saying the Airbus incident was unrelated to problems with the Dreamliner's engine. The next day, a Qantas Boeing 747 reported a different problem with its Rolls-Royce engine.
Tuesday's incident in Texas is the latest setback for Boeing's new flagship commercial aircraft program, which is running nearly three years behind schedule. The first Dreamliner is slated for delivery to ANA sometime in the first quarter of next year.
It's unclear if Tuesday's incident will further affect that timetable.
—Doug Cameron contributed to this article.
Write to Peter Sanders at peter.sanders@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
A previous version of this article incorrectly said Tuesday's emergency was related to its engines. | – Is the Boeing 787 cursed? Boeing today announced that it will ground its entire test fleet of the long-delayed Dreamliner, after a fire forced one to make an emergency landing yesterday. The plane was making its final approach to Laredo, Texas, when the crew reported smoke in the cabin, possibly from the rear electronics bay, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 42-member crew wound up evacuating via the jet’s emergency slides, as ground crews rushed in to extinguish the flames. “Until we understand the event, we’re not going to schedule any new flights,” a Boeing spokeswoman told CNN. The problem may have been with the electronics, or it might have involved its Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, which have encountered a series of problems both in test flights, and in Rolls-Royce’s testing facilities. (Rolls-Royce has been having a tough couple of days; click here for more.) | [
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FILE - This May 13, 2013 file photo shows O.J. Simpson during an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. Simpson's lawyers submitted a supersized appeal May 21, 2014, asking the... (Associated Press)
FILE - This May 13, 2013 file photo shows O.J. Simpson during an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. Simpson's lawyers submitted a supersized appeal May 21, 2014, asking the... (Associated Press)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson's lawyers submitted a supersized appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, seeking the former football star's release from prison and a new trial in his 2007 Las Vegas armed-robbery case.
The lawyers met a midnight Wednesday deadline to submit a request for the court to review Simpson's claim that 2008 trial in Las Vegas was tainted by his fame and notoriety following his 1995 acquittal in Los Angeles in the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend.
However, the document totaled 19,993 words, court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said Thursday. That was some 43 percent longer than the 14,000-word limit the court had set.
It will be up to the seven justices to decide whether to accept it for filing and consideration. Until that time, the document hasn't been made public. The court hasn't decided whether to hear oral arguments.
Simpson, 66, is serving nine to 33 years in a northern Nevada prison after being found guilty of leading a group of armed men in a September 2007 confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas casino hotel. He was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges. He's not eligible for parole until late 2017.
The appeal stems from arguments rejected last year by Clark County District Judge Linda Marie Bell that Simpson's trial attorney botched Simpson's trial and first appeal to the state Supreme Court, the only appeals court in Nevada.
Simpson attorney Patricia Palm said the appeal ran long because she and attorneys Ozzie Fumo and Tom Pitaro were responding in detail to the judge's Nov. 26 ruling, which totaled 101 pages.
Palm said the state high court routinely accepts oversized filings in complex cases. She also submitted 36 appendices to the appeal brief.
Bell's ruling came after she held five days of hearings in Las Vegas on a 94-page petition that Palm filed in May 2012 seeking a new trial on 22 possible grounds.
The judge said she reviewed the entire Simpson court record and determined that evidence was overwhelming that Simpson orchestrated the armed kidnapping and robbery, and that Simpson's current attorneys failed to demonstrate how his former lawyer's actions changed the outcome of the case.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he was confident that Bell's ruling would be upheld. Wolfson's wife, former Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass, presided over Simpson's 2008 trial and sentencing.
Simpson claimed he was trying to retrieve from the memorabilia dealers items that had been stolen from him after his Los Angeles trial and a 1997 civil court a wrongful-death judgment that put him on the hook for $33.5 million to the estates of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
The NFL hall of famer testified last year that he thought he had a right to get his own belongings back, and he never knew any of the men with him were carrying guns.
___
Find Ken Ritter on Twitter: http://twitter.com/krttr ||||| O.J. Simpson is asking the Nevada Supreme Court to reverse a judge’s ruling denying him a new trial in a 2007 robbery case, in an appeal filed in the wee hours Thursday.
Simpson is in the midst of serving a nine- to 33-year prison term after he was convicted of 10 charges for robbing two men of sports memorabilia in September 2007. He argued he was simply recovering his own property, including photographs, when he went to the Palace Station hotel room.
The appeal motion, written by defense lawyer Patricia Palm, is longer than the Supreme Court allows by about 5,000 words. The high court must approve the longer version, which it has done in the past in other cases.
Normally appeals are immediately posted on the Supreme Court’s website for public review, but Simpson’s had not posted Thursday because of the length.
The appeal has more than 30 appendices to it, the Supreme Court’s website shows.
In November, Judge Linda Bell rejected the notorious former football player’s contention that his trial lawyer in the robbery case, Yale Galanter, was ineffective, had financial and legal conflicts and misadvised the 66-year-old inmate.
Bell’s ruling came six months after a week-long hearing where Simpson testified Galanter told him he could legally take his property back and would represent him for free.
“All grounds in the petition lack merit and, consequently are denied,” Bell said in a 100-page decision.
Bell ruled Simpson “failed to demonstrate that counsel experienced an actual conflict of interest that substantially impacted counsel’s performance at trial … that the State withheld exculpatory evidence … that appellate and trial counsel were ineffective or that any deficient performance by counsel resulted in prejudice,” the ruling stated.
In her ruling, Bell said the evidence was overwhelming against Simpson and that there was no indication that it was a close verdict.
Meanwhile, Simpson is in the midst of serving one to six years on a weapons enhancement for the kidnapping count. He has four to 18 years left on his prison term on the remaining counts.
Simpson is imprisoned at Lovelock Correctional Center, about 100 miles northeast of Reno.
Inmate #1027820 has had a “positive record,” the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners said in July, which included his participation in parole programs.
Following his Hall of Fame professional football career, Simpson became one of the most popular former athletes in America, regularly hawking products in humorous TV commercials or starring in movies, such as “The Naked Gun.”
That is, until Simpson was acquitted by a Los Angeles jury in 1995 of the 1994 deaths of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman in what was dubbed “the trial of the century.”
Testimony at the May hearing revealed that most of the items taken in the 2007 robbery were found to be the football player’s. The items were returned to Simpson and, unless sold, were not subject to satisfy a $33.5 million civil judgment against him for the deaths of his ex-wife and Goldman.
Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @fjmccabe | – OJ Simpson is seeking a new trial, arguing that the notoriety from his 1995 murder acquittal tainted his 2008 trial for a robbery in Las Vegas. His lawyers have filed an appeal with the Nevada Supreme Court, but it runs a mammoth 19,993 words and has more than 30 appendices; the AP points out that's 43% longer than the court's established word limit. It's not clear whether it will be accepted, though the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the court has made such exceptions in the past. Simpson is serving nine to 33 years at the Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada for his part in the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers, but he argues that he was simply recovering his own property. He will not be eligible for parole until late 2017. The state's board of parole commissioners says Inmate #1027820 has had a "positive record," reports the Review-Journal. (He was, however, told off for stealing cookies last fall.) | [
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Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams makes remarks during a press conference at the Abrams Headquarters in Atlanta, Friday, Nov. 16, 2018. Democrat Stacey Abrams says she will file a federal... (Associated Press)
Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams makes remarks during a press conference at the Abrams Headquarters in Atlanta, Friday, Nov. 16, 2018. Democrat Stacey Abrams says she will file a federal lawsuit to challenge the "gross mismanagement" of Georgia elections. Abrams made the comments in a Friday... (Associated Press)
ATLANTA (AP) — Democrat Stacey Abrams ended 10 days of post-election drama in Georgia's closely watched and even more closely contested race for governor Friday, acknowledging Republican Brian Kemp as the victor while defiantly refusing to concede to the man she blamed for "gross mismanagement" of a bitterly fought election.
The speech Abrams delivered at her campaign headquarters Friday evening marked the close of the 44-year-old attorney and former lawmaker's unsuccessful attempt to make history as America's first black woman governor. Since Election Day her campaign fought on, insisting efforts to suppress turnout had left thousands of ballots uncounted that otherwise could erode Kemp's lead and force a runoff election.
Kemp, the 55-year-old businessman who oversaw the election as Georgia's secretary of state, will keep the governor's office in GOP hands as the state's third Republican governor since Reconstruction. He responded to Abrams ending her campaign by calling for unity and praising his opponent's "passion, hard work, and commitment to public service."
The kind words came just days after Kemp's campaign spokesman derided Abrams' efforts to have contested ballots counted as a "disgrace to democracy."
Abrams made no such retreat from her criticisms of Kemp, saying she refused "to say nice things and accept my fate." Instead, she announced plans to file a federal lawsuit to challenge the way Georgia's elections are run. She accused Kemp of using the secretary of state's office to aggressively purge the rolls of inactive voters, enforce an "exact match" policy for checking voters' identities that left thousands of registrations in limbo and other measures to tile the outcome in his favor.
"Let's be clear: This is not a speech of concession," Abrams said. "Because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that."
The race grabbed the attention of the nation, with Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey campaigning for Abrams in the final days and President Donald Trump holding a rally for Kemp.
Unofficial returns showed Kemp ahead by roughly 60,000 votes out of nearly 4 million cast on Nov. 6. Kemp declared himself governor-elect the next day and stepped down as Georgia's secretary of state, though thousands of absentee and provisional ballots remained uncounted.
Abrams, meanwhile, sent volunteers across the state in search of voters whose ballots were rejected. She filed suit in federal court to force county elections boards to count absentee ballots with incorrect birthdates. Her campaign even planned for possible litigation to challenge the election's certified outcome.
Abrams didn't take that route. She said she had concluded "the law currently allows no further viable remedy." Instead, she said she would fight to restore integrity to Georgia's election system in a new initiative called Fair Fight Georgia.
"In the coming days, we will be filing a major federal lawsuit against the state of Georgia for the gross mismanagement of this election and to protect future elections from unconstitutional actions," Abrams said, though she gave no details.
Kemp tried to move past the contentious campaign even if his opponent wasn't willing.
"The election is over and hardworking Georgians are ready to move forward," he said. "We can no longer dwell on the divisive politics of the past but must focus on Georgia's bright and promising future."
Kemp had been secretary of state since 2010. He was backed by and had embraced Trump as he tried to maintain GOP dominance in a state that hasn't elected a Democrat to the governor's mansion since 1998.
Kemp stormed to the GOP nomination with ads featuring everything from the candidate cranking a chain saw and jokingly pointing a gun toward a teen male suitor of his daughter, to Kemp's offer to "round up criminal illegals" himself in his pickup truck. He's promised a tax cut and teacher pay raises and pledged to continue Georgia's refusal to expand Medicaid insurance under President Barack Obama's 2010 health care overhaul.
Abrams' campaign sparked huge energy across the state and she became a national Democratic star. Election turnout among both sides' energized bases nearly equaled that of the 2016 presidential vote.
Aides close to Abrams said that since the election she had been wrestling with competing priorities: She wanted to advance her assertions that Georgia's elections process — which Kemp managed as secretary of state — makes it too hard for some citizens to vote. But she also recognized that a protracted legal fight would harm that cause and potentially her political future.
Kemp's victory is an important marker for Republicans ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Kemp's narrow margin already suggests that Georgia, a state Trump won by 5 percentage points in 2016, could be a genuine battleground in two years. Trump bet big on Kemp, endorsing him ahead of Kemp's Republican primary runoff and campaigning for him the weekend prior to the Nov. 6 election. Now, Trump will be able to return with an incumbent governor as he seeks a second term.
Abrams' political future is less certain. She made believers of old-guard Democrats in Georgia who didn't think a black woman could compete in a general election, and she emerged as the party's clear leader. But the party also has plenty of other ambitious politicians who will want to take advantage of the path that Abrams' has charted. The next big shot for Democrats is a 2020 Senate race, with Republican Sen. David Perdue making his first re-election attempt.
___
Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP and Brumback at https://twitter.com/katebrumback. ||||| Stacey Abrams said her speech bowing out of the gubernatorial race was not one of concession. A concession speech would have indicated she agreed with how the election was carried out and its outcome, she said.
Instead, she announced that she was bowing out of the race knowing that the interim Secretary of State was poised to certify election results declaring Republican Brian Kemp the winner. Abrams said she realized there were no more legal options to stop that from happening.
“I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election, but to watch an elected official who claims to represent the people in this state baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote has been truly appalling,” Abrams said.
“So, let’s be clear. This is not a speech of concession. Because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that. But my assessment is the law currently allows no further viable remedy.”
Abrams’ speech, her first public remarks since election night, came during a news conference called with less than two hours’ notice. In it, she recounted the challenges many voters faced with absentee ballots, as well as during early voting and on Election Day.
She thanked those who called the voter protection hotline to share their stories and for the volunteers who have joined the push to have every legal vote counted in the 10 days since the election.
“We have used this election and its aftermath to diagnose what has been broken in our process,” she said.
Putting her campaign to rest, Abrams said she would continue to speak out about how Kemp carried out the election and push for changes. She announced the creation of a new statewide organization called Fair Fight Georgia.
Abrams also said she will work to help Democrats in the Dec. 4 runoff, including Secretary of State candidate John Barrow and Lindy Miller, who is running for the Public Service Commission.
And she said she will pray for Kemp’s success.
Abrams ended her speech by casting a preemptive strike to those who may criticize her not striking a more conciliatory tone on her way out of the door.
“They can complain that I should not use this moment to recap what was done wrong or to demand a remedy,” she said. “You see as a leader, I should be stoic in my outrage and silent in my rebuke. But stoicism is a luxury, and silence is a weapon for those who would quiet the voices of the people. And I will not concede because the erosion of our democracy is not right.” ||||| John Amis/AP Photo Elections Abrams says Kemp will be next governor of Georgia, effectively conceding race
Democrat Stacey Abrams announced Friday that Brian Kemp, her Republican opponent in the Georgia gubernatorial race, would be certified as governor.
"I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election," Abrams said at a press conference Friday, effectively conceding that she lost the race.
Story Continued Below
The announcement comes more than a week after the November midterm elections when Kemp came out as the top vote-getter in the race. But Abrams refused to concede, arguing that there were outstanding votes that needed to be counted. Since then her campaign has filed legal challenges and pushed to have additional absentee and provisional ballots counted.
That move lowered the margin of victory for Kemp but not by enough to trigger a runoff or recount.
But Abrams also criticized Kemp's handling of the election as secretary of state and said her speech was not a normal concession of a fair election to an opponent. But Abrams still said she was dropping out.
"My assessment is the law allows no further viable remedy," Abrams said.
Friday was the day all counties had to certify the election results.
Since the Nov. 6 election, Abrams and her campaign argued that Kemp, through negligence or indirect moves as secretary of state, worked to suppress the vote for Abrams throughout the state. Abrams officials also argued that Kemp was not doing everything in his power to count every vote.
"Make no mistake, the former secretary of state was deliberate and intentional in his actions," Abrams said. "I know that eight years of systemic disenfranchisement, disinvestment and incompetence had its desired effect on the electoral process in Georgia."
After election night, the campaign filed multiple legal challenges to ensure absentee or provisional ballots were counted even if they came late in certain cases. The campaign also sued to extend certification deadlines for parts of the state.
Abrams, in her speech, acknowledged that she could continue to fight the election results but said that would be counterproductive.
"Now, I could certainly bring a new case to keep this one contest alive, but I don't want to hold public office if I need to scheme my way into the post," Abrams said. "Because the title of governor isn't nearly as important as our shared title. Voters."
Abrams "would probably be gov if it would have been a #fairfight. But here we are, we will #keepfightinig," Abrams' campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo tweeted after the press conference. "Coming soon: all of this knowledge, analysis and info on what happened, collected by our staff and vols, will be poured into a major lawsuit to force reform."
Since the election, Kemp and his team have been adamant that Abrams lost. In response to every lawsuit or criticism, Kemp’s team argued that he was the decisive victor and Abrams was just grandstanding.
“Governor-elect Brian Kemp earned a clear and convincing victory on Election Day,” Kemp communications director Ryan Mahoney said in a statement on Friday. “The campaign is over and Kemp’s focus is on building a safer, stronger future for Georgia families. Radical Stacey Abrams is beyond desperate with her latest publicity stunt. Georgia voters made their decision at the ballot box. It’s time for Stacey Abrams to end her ridiculous temper tantrum and concede.”
Throughout the race, critics including former President Jimmy Carter argued that Kemp had a conflict of interest as both a secretary of state and a candidate. But Kemp only stepped down from his official role after election night as he began his transition to governor.
Abrams was one of the most high-profile Democratic statewide candidates in the 2018 cycle and quickly earned endorsements from major figures of the establishment and liberal wings of the Democratic Party. The thesis of Abrams' campaign was that Georgia had an untapped pool of Democratic voters, many of them nonwhite, that could be leveraged into a major statewide win and turn the state purple in elections to come.
The race became a rallying point for the respective grassroots wings of the Republican and Democratic parties. Abrams became a favorite of Democratic moderates and liberals while Kemp, who didn't start out in the Republican primary as the frontrunner, earned a surprise endorsement from President Donald Trump. Kemp also built his reputation as secretary of state on being a voter-fraud hardliner. Abrams, prior to running for governor, founded a group aimed at registering new voters in Georgia. The two had seemed to be on a collision course in recent years.
In the primary, Abrams was always the frontrunner and handily defeated her opponent, Stacey Evans, raising optimism that her campaign's focus on building a strong field apparatus earlier than most campaigns could work in a general election atmosphere even in a ruby-red state like Georgia.
But on election night and even as the margin of Kemp's lead shrank, he always led Abrams by thousands of votes.
Late Friday, Trump tweeted: "Congratulations to Brian Kemp on becoming the new Governor of Georgia. Stacey Abrams fought brilliantly and hard - she will have a terrific political future! Brian was unrelenting and will become a great Governor for the truly Wonderful People of Georgia!" | – It's over in Georgia: Stacey Abrams called a press conference Friday to acknowledge that Republican Brian Kemp will be the state's next governor, reports Politico. But Abrams made clear that she thinks Kemp, who oversaw the election as secretary of state, is guilty of foul play. "To watch an elected official who claims to represent the people in this state baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote has been truly appalling,” Abrams said, per the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “So, let’s be clear," she said. "This is not a speech of concession. Because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that. But my assessment is the law currently allows no further viable remedy.” Abrams, who had been vying to become the nation's first black female governor, accused Kemp of "gross mismanagement" of the election, per the AP. Still, she said she would pray for his success. Kemp, for his part, praised his opponent's "passion, hard work, and commitment to public service." | [
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Just One More Thing...
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Close ||||| The interactive transcript could not be loaded.
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This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- A grand jury has indicted two nurses and an aide on numerous charges, including felony murder in one case, in the death of an elderly patient who slowly died in front of them.
In November, the Brookhaven Police Department launched a criminal investigation into 89-year-old James Dempsey’s death after an 11Alive Investigation uncovered hidden camera video and court depositions of nursing home staff who responded to the World War II veteran.
It happened at Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation in 2014. 11Alive obtained both videos in 2017 through public records requests after the family filed a lawsuit.
The video showed Dempsey repeatedly calling out for help as he suffered in respiratory distress. After his calls, Dempsey became unresponsive.
READ | Hidden camera tells true story of how veteran died after calling for help, gasping for air
On Wednesday, charges were announced.
Former nurse Loyce Pickquet Agyeman, of Snellville, Georgia is charged with felony murder and neglect to an elder person.
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PHOTOS: How a senior care facility failed Mr. Dempsey (story continues below)
PHOTOS: How a senior care facility failed Mr. Dempsey
Wanda Nuckles of Buford, also a former nurse, is charged with depriving an elder person of essential Services, while Mable Turman, a certified nurse assistant from College Park, is charged with neglect to an elder person.
All three women were also indicted on a single count of concealing the death of another in the five-count indictment returned by grand jurors Tuesday afternoon.
RELATED: 3 nursing staff were seen ignoring the veteran's cries. This is why one is charged with murder
In the video deposition, Nuckles originally told Dempsey family attorney Mike Prieto that she rushed to Dempsey's room when a nurse told her that he had stopped breathing.
Prieto: “From the time you came in, you took over doing chest compressions…correct?”
Nuckles : “Yes.”
Prieto: “Until the time paramedics arrive, you were giving CPR continuously?”
Nuckles : “Yes.”
The video, however, shows no one doing CPR when Nuckles entered the room. She also did not immediately start doing CPR.
“Sir, that was an honest mistake,” said Nuckles in the deposition. “I was just basing everything on what I normally do.”
The video shows the veteran calling for help six times before he goes unconscious while gasping for air. State records show nursing home staff found Dempsey unresponsive at 5:28 am. It took almost an hour for the staff to call 911 at 6:25a.m.
ANOTHER INVESTIGATION: Army veteran freezes to death after being released from VA hospital
When a different nurse does respond, she fails to check any of his vital signs. Nuckles says she would have reprimanded the nurse for the way she responded to Dempsey. She called the video “sick.”
When nurses had difficulty getting Dempsey's oxygen machine operational during, you can hear Nuckles and others laughing.
The nursing facility was made aware of the video in November 2015, but according to state inspection reports, the nursing home did not fire the nurses until 10 months later.
According to the Georgia Board of Nursing, Nuckles and another nurse seen in the video surrendered their licenses in September 2017 – about three years after the incident.
READ | Nursing assistant: We asked for more staff before WWII vet begged for help and died
After the indictment, warrants were issued for the arrest of Agyeman, Nuckles and Turman. Weeks ago, Brookhaven Police Brandon Gurley said 11Alive’s story was key to re-opening the investigation.
“It was very instrumental…because there was information in the news report that you guys aired that our detectives had not seen yet,” said Gurley.
The case will be prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Elder Abuse and Exploitation Unit. A trial date has not been set.
CHECK NURSING HOMES: Click here to see nursing home inspection reports
Do you have a story you want to tell? Contact 11Alive Investigator Andy Pierotti. ||||| The interactive transcript could not be loaded.
Rating is available when the video has been rented.
This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| An 11Alive investigation uncovered hidden camera video catching nursing home staff laughing while an elderly patient dies in front of them. The incident happened at the Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation in 2014, but the video was recently released as part of a lawsuit filed by the family.
Attorneys representing the Atlanta nursing home tried to prevent 11Alive from obtaining the video. They asked a DeKalb County judge to keep the video sealed and then attempted to appeal to the Georgia State Supreme Court. The judge ruled in favor of 11Alive and the nursing home eventually dropped its appeal to the state's highest court.
The video includes almost six hours of video court deposition from a nursing supervisor explaining how she responded to the patient before she knew the hidden camera video existed. The video shows a completely different response.
The deceased patient is 89-year-old James Dempsey, a decorated World War II veteran from Woodstock, Georgia.
In the video deposition, former nursing supervisor Wanda Nuckles tells the family's attorney, Mike Prieto, how she rushed to Dempsey's room when a nurse alerted her he had stopped breathing.
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Prieto: “From the time you came in, you took over doing chest compressions…correct?”
Nuckles : “Yes.”
Prieto: “Until the time paramedics arrive, you were giving CPR continuously?”
Nuckles : “Yes.”
The video, however, shows no one doing CPR when Nuckles entered the room. She also did not immediately start doing CPR.
“Sir, that was an honest mistake,” said Nuckles in the deposition. “I was just basing everything on what I normally do.”
Watch the extended deposition here where her story changes after watching the hidden video.
The video shows the veteran calling for help six times before he goes unconscious while gasping for air. State records show nursing home staff found Dempsey unresponsive at 5:28 am. It took almost an hour for the staff to call 911 at 6:25a.m.
When a different nurse does respond, she fails to check any of his vital signs. Nuckles says she would have reprimanded the nurse for the way she responded to Dempsey. She called the video “sick.”
►OTHER INVESTIGATIONS: Diagnosing Discrimination: Widespread discrimination uncovered at CDC
When nurses had difficulty getting Dempsey's oxygen machine operational during, you can hear Nuckles and others laughing.
Prieto: “Ma'am, was there something funny that was happening?”
Nuckles : “I can't even remember all that as you can see.”
(Story continues below photos)
PHOTOS: How a senior care facility failed Mr. Dempsey
11Alive showed the video to Elaine Harris, a retired nursing professor and expert in adult critical care. “In 43 years in nursing, I have never seen such disregard for human life in a healthcare setting, is what I witnessed,” said Harris.
Harris says she identified several violations of care in the video, including failure to respond, failure to assess and failure to act.
►OTHER INVESTIGATIONS: Drug Whisperer: Drivers arrested while stone cold sober
In the video, nursing staff repeatedly start and stop doing CPR on Dempsey. Harris says once you start doing CPR, it should not be stopped until a doctor makes the decision not to resuscitate.
“That is absolutely inappropriate. You never stop compressions,” said Harris.
Dempsey's family declined to be interviewed due to a settlement agreement recently reached with the nursing home.
The nursing home operators, owned by Sava Senior Care, declined interview requests. In a prepared statement, a spokesperson wrote they were “saddened by the events, which occurred more than three years ago.” The letter also notes it has “new leadership and the leadership team and the staff have worked very diligently to improve quality care and the quality of life for our residents….The facility recently was deficiency-free during our recent annual inspection conducted by the Georgia Department of Health on May 25, 2017.”
►OTHER INVESTIGATIONS: Selling Girls: Sex traffickers are targeting America's children
The nursing facility was made aware of the video in November 2015, but according to state inspection reports, the nursing home did not fire the nurses until 10 months later.
According to the Georgia Board of Nursing, Nuckles and another nurse seen in the video, surrendered their licenses in September – about three years after the incident. Nursing board president Janice Izlar says she cannot confirm when the state knew about the video, but the board's action came shortly after 11Alive sent her and other board staff a link to view the video.
On average, it currently takes the nursing board 427 days to fully investigate a nursing complaint. Izlar says that's an improvement from about 2,000 days.
“There is a lot of the process that we absolute do not have control over. For example, if we refer to a different division, a different agency, we have no absolutely no control over the timeline,” said Izlar.
►OTHER INVESTIGATIONS: The Hunt: Atlanta's Hidden Serial Killers
►AND: The Dumping Grounds: A trail of bodies hidden in plain sight
State health inspection records show Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation continued to have a history of problems after Dempsey's death. Medicare records show the nursing home facility was cited at least two dozen times for serious health and safety violations, including “immediate jeopardy” levels, the worst violation. Medicare withdrew one payment and the facility has been fined $813,113 since 2015.
While the facility recently received a good inspection this past May, it still has a one-star rating from Medicare, the lowest score the agency can give. The nursing facility remains open today.
CHECK NURSING HOMES: Click here to see nursing home inspection reports
Do you have a story you want to tell? Contact 11Alive Investigator Andy Pierotti. ||||| Multiple criminal charges, including murder, have been filed against the nurses linked to the death of 89-year-old World War II veteran James Dempsey. Loyce Pickquet Agyeman, a former licensed nurse practitioner, was indicted on Tuesday in Dekalb County, Georgia, for felony murder and neglect to an elder person, according to 11Alive. Wanda Nuckles, another former nurse practitioner, was charged with depriving an elder person of essential services, while nurse assistant Mable Turman faces a count of neglect to an elder person. The defendants each face a count of concealing the death of another.
If their names aren’t familiar to you, video of the incident should be. Footage showed nurses apparently ignoring his cries for help, then laughing as Dempsey continued to die. Law&Crime editor-in-chief Rachel Stockman first covered the incident in 2015 as a reporter for Atlanta’s WSB-TV. In that story, Dempsey’s family said they installed a nanny cam in his room at Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation in 2014.
They caught the patriarch’s final moments. As seen on footage, he repeatedly calls for help, only to largely be ignored. His family sued. Deposition video shows plaintiff attorney Mike Prieto pressing Nuckles, one of the nurses in the video.
At first, she testified that she did chest compressions until more help arrived, but the lawyer played the video.
“Contrary to the way you testified previously, there is no one doing CPR, is there,” he said.
“No,” Nuckles said.
Footage later showed apparent laughter in the room.
“Ma’am, was there something funny that was happening at 6:30:41 on February 21, 2014 in the middle of this attempt to resuscitate Mr. Dempsey?” Prieto said.
“I have no clue,” Nuckles said. “I can’t even remember all that, as you can see.”
Dempsey’s family reached a settlement with the nursing home.
[Screengrab via WSB-TV] | – Nurses fired after a video appeared to show them ignoring a World War II veteran's calls for help before his death at a Georgia nursing home are now facing criminal charges, including a murder charge in one case. A grand jury on Tuesday indicted former licensed nurse Loyce Pickquet Agyeman on charges of felony murder, neglect to an elder person, and concealing a death following a police investigation triggered by 11Alive's airing of hidden camera footage from inside Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation. It showed Agyeman, former licensed nurse Wanda Nuckles, and nursing assistant Mable Turman inside the room of 89-year-old James Dempsey, who fell unconscious and ultimately died on Feb 27, 2014, after repeatedly calling for help while struggling to breathe. The footage—from a camera set up by family members who reached a settlement with the nursing home, per Law & Crime—showed staff laughing as they tried to start an oxygen machine. It also conflicted with a video deposition in which Nuckles claimed she'd given Dempsey CPR continuously until paramedics arrived. Staff didn't call 911 for almost an hour, 11Alive previously reported. Also indicted Tuesday, Nuckles is charged with depriving an elder person of essential services and concealing a death, while Turman—who remains certified—is charged with neglect and concealing a death. Arrest warrants for all three have been issued, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, though it's not clear if they are yet in custody. A trial date is pending. | [
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Thank you for reading 5 free articles. You can come back at the end of your 30-day period for another 5 free articles, or you can purchase a subscription and continue to enjoy valuable local news and information. If you are a current 7-day subscriber you are granted an all-access pass to the website and digital newspaper replica. Please click Sign Up to subscribe, or Login if you are already a member.
Thank you for reading 5 free articles. You can come back at the end of your 30-day period for another 5 free articles, or you can purchase a subscription and continue to enjoy valuable local news and information. If you are a current 7-day subscriber you are granted an all-access pass to the website and digital newspaper replica. Please click below to Get Started. ||||| Charlottesville City Council voted unanimously Monday to rename 4th Street in memory of Heather Heyer.
That's the street where Heyer was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of protesters during the "Unite the Right" rally on August 12.
It remained closed until nearly a month afterward on September 9. In that time, the intersection became the site of a growing memorial in her memory. Brick walls bore messages of peace and love.
Along the downtown mall, it will now be known as Heather Heyer Way.
The driver who allegedly drove into a crowd during that rally, James Alex Fields Jr., was charged with second-degree murder in Heyer's death and multiple counts of malicious wounding and hit and run. He is due back in an Albemarle County court in December.
Nineteen other people were hospitalized with injuries from the attack. ||||| Jason Kessler, the organizer of the Unite the Right rally, has been indicted by an Albemarle County grand jury on a felony perjury charge. According to court records, the charge stems from a sworn statement he made in January.
Court records show that he gave a statement to a magistrate claiming that he was assaulted by James Taylor on the Downtown Mall on Jan. 22 while trying to gather signatures for his petition to get Wes Bellamy removed from the Charlottesville City Council.
Taylor said when he refused to sign the petition, Kessler punched him and Kessler was charged with assault.
On Jan. 23, Kessler swore out an assault complaint against Taylor, writing that Taylor "grabbed the petition and my arm, violently shaking to separate the two."
Kessler claimed Taylor screamed an obscenity while "making contact with his face to mine."
However, prosecutors said video of the altercation showed Kessler's version of the story wasn't true.
The assault charge against Taylor was dismissed and Kessler pleaded guilty to an assault charge in April. He was sentenced to 50 hours of community service.
The perjury charge is a class 5 felony and carries a possible sentence of one to ten years in prison and up to a $2,500 fine.
The indictment was handed up in Albemarle County because the statement was made at the magistrate's office located in the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail, which is in the county.
Legal analyst Scott Goodman says perjury charges are rare.
"It's very hard to prove perjury," he said. "Nowadays, the only cases that can hold up in court and prove perjury is where there is video evidence."
And he pointed out that a felony conviction is punished by more than just prison time or a fine. It strips voting and other rights.
"It [would take] away his right to own a firearm and that is something that most people these days don't want to lose, the right to be able to bear arms," said Goodman.
Neither Kessler nor Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Tracci responded to a request for comment. | – The organizer of August's deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville has been indicted on a felony perjury charge stemming from a January incident that previously landed him with an assault conviction. In a sworn statement on Jan. 23, Jason Kessler told a magistrate he was assaulted by Charlottesville resident James Taylor on the city's Downtown Mall while collecting signatures for a petition to oust a city councillor, according to court records. Kessler said Taylor "grabbed the petition and my arm, violently shaking to separate the two" and screamed an obscenity while "making contact with his face to mine," reports CBS19. Kessler added he "punched the attacker in self-defense," per the Daily Progress. However, prosecutors later said a video proved Kessler was lying; Taylor said at the time that "I was literally holding a cup of coffee." Kessler pleaded guilty to assault, received a 30-day suspended sentence, and was ordered to perform 50 hours of community service, while the complaint against Taylor was dismissed. "I'll admit that what I did was not legal," Kessler said in April, per the Daily Progress. "I was having a bad day. I've never done anything like this before and it will never happen again." Still, an Albemarle County grand jury issued an indictment for Kessler on Monday and an arrest warrant was issued by 3pm Tuesday. It's not clear if Kessler is in custody. Meanwhile in Charlottesville, the city council voted unanimously Monday to rename a section of 4th Street as Heather Heyer Way in honor of the counterprotester who was killed by a driver at the Unite the Right rally, reports WHSV. | [
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***UPDATE: Politico has suspended Williams. Full report here.
Politico, the unofficial web-branch of MSNBC, and whose staff spends more time on MSNBC than Chris Matthews, has a so-called reporter named Joseph Williams who all but called Mitt Romney a racist on Martin Bashir’s show today.
Williams says declaratively that Romney is only comfortable around white people.
But if you think the video clip is disgraceful, wait till you see Mr. Williams’ greatest tweets collection assembled below.
“Dick” jokes about Ann Romney. Really.
—
—
The full clip is actually worse.
Williams just isn’t any Politico reporter, by the way, he’s their White House Correspondent, but one who regularly shills for Obama on Twitter — furthering the Obama campaign’s talking points on race and Romney’s wealth.
Oh, and he also makes penis jokes about Ann Romney.
Picture of a Politico White House Correspondent in action…when he thinks no one is watching:
–
And naturally, NASCAR is racist, donchaknow:
–
This is our MSM.
This is Politico.
This is why God created Andrew Breitbart.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC ||||| Regrettably, an unacceptable number of Joe Williams's public statements on cable and Twitter have called into question his commitment to this responsibility. His comment about Governor Romney earlier today on MSNBC fell short of our standards for fairness and judgment in an especially unfortunate way.
Joe has acknowledged that his appearance reflected a poor choice of words. This appearance came in the context of other remarks on Twitter that, cumulatively, require us to make clear that our standards are serious, and so are the consequences for disregarding them. This is true for all POLITICO journalists, including an experienced and well-respected voice like Joe Williams.
Following discussion of this matter with editors, Joe has been suspended while we review the matter. | – Politico has suspended White House correspondent Joe Williams following his implication that Mitt Romney is only at ease among "white folks." Williams told Martin Bashir on MSNBC yesterday that Romney is "very, very comfortable ... with people who are like him," Thus he can be "awkward" in town hall meetings, but "when he comes on Fox and Friends, they're like him, they're white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company." Daily Intel points out that a Romney penis joke Williams made on Twitter only added fuel to the fire. And so Politico responded. Williams' comments "fell short of our standards for fairness and judgment in an especially unfortunate way," Politico bosses wrote in a staff memo. "An unacceptable number of Joe Williams' public statements on cable and Twitter have called into question his commitment to this responsibility," they noted. "Following discussion of this matter with editors, Joe has been suspended while we review the matter." | [
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Vice President Pence on Wednesday rejected claims from Democrats that FBI Director James Comey was fired to stop the bureau's investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
"That's not what this was about," Pence told reporters at the Capitol.
"The president's decision to accept the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general to remove Director Comey as the head of the FBI was based solely and exclusively on his commitment to the best interest of the American people," he said, responding to a question from NBC's Kristen Welker.
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Pence praised President Trump and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whom Pence called "a man of extraordinary independence and integrity."
Trump "made the right decision at the right time," Pence said.
"Director Comey had lost the confidence of the American people," he added. "I personally am very grateful that we have a president willing to show the kind of strong and decisive leadership" necessary to fire him."
Trump fired Comey Tuesday evening in a letter that thanked Comey for "informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation." Trump said the firing was necessary to "find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission." ||||| Story highlights The vice president is taking the lead on the Hill in hopes of helping to reshape the narrative
Pence repeatedly emphasized to reporters that Trump's decision was the right one
(CNN) Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday praised President Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey and insisted the decision wasn't due to the ongoing probe into alleged ties between Trump's campaign and Russia.
"As has been stated repeatedly and the President has been told, he's not under investigation," Pence told reporters on Capitol Hill. He added: "There is no evidence of collusion between our campaign and any Russian officials."
The vice president is taking the lead on the Hill in hopes of helping to reshape the narrative surrounding Comey's exit, a White House official said. Pence spoke to the media "to take the steam" out of the controversy, the official added.
JUST WATCHED Trump: Comey was not doing a good job Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump: Comey was not doing a good job 00:33
Shortly after Pence's remarks, Trump responded to the controversy for the first time in person, telling pool reporters in the Oval Office he fired Comey because "he wasn't doing a good job."
Read More | – Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that President Trump's firing of James Comey had nothing to do with the fact that the former FBI director was in charge of the bureau's investigation into whether Trump's campaign team colluded with Russia to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election, CNN reports. "As has been stated repeatedly and the president has been told, he's not under investigation," Pence said in response to a question from NBC News' Kristen Welker. "There is no evidence of collusion between our campaign and any Russian officials." He didn't elaborate on the actual reasons for Comey's firing, but did say Trump was simply looking out for "the best interest of the American people," the Hill reports. (Mitch McConnell says there will be no special prosecutor appointed to investigate Russian tampering.) | [
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BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: She was the first woman to serve as dean of Harvard law school and the first woman solicitor general , the government 's lawyer at the Supreme Court . If President Obama has his way, she'll be just the fourth woman in US history to take a seat on the Supreme Court . She is Elena Kagan . She's from New York , and while she's never been a judge, she has that in common with a host of justices on the court throughout history. Today the president praised her legal mind. Now we wait and see how tough a fight this will be. We begin our coverage here tonight with our justice correspondent Pete Williams at the Supreme Court . Pete , good evening.
PETE WILLIAMS reporting: Brian, the president today called her a woman of many firsts, but one thing she's never been is a judge. That lack of experience is already becoming an issue, even though roughly one-third of all Supreme Court justices were never judges when they got here, either. Mr. Obama called Elena Kagan , the second Supreme Court nominee of his presidency, someone who can bring people together.
President BARACK OBAMA: Elena is respected and admired not just for her intellect and record of achievement, but also for her temperament, her openness to a broad array of viewpoints.
P. WILLIAMS: She's the child of a New York housing rights lawyer father and a public school teacher mother.
Ms. ELENA KAGAN: My parents' lives and their memory remind me every day of the impact public service can have. And I pray every day that I live up to the example they set.
P. WILLIAMS: Judging from her high school yearbook, she had early aspirations to wield a gavel. Classmates say she was a standout in a school of overachievers.
Ms. JUSTENE ADAMEC (Former Classmate): She would speak up and talk to the teachers as if she was much older. She knew far more history and far more of the news events that the rest of us had not started paying attention to.
P. WILLIAMS: After Princeton and Harvard law school , she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall , who called her "Shortie." For most of the 1990s she taught law at the University of Chicago , where she met a young Barack Obama , a part-time faculty member. She served President Clinton as a lawyer and policy adviser and later became the first woman dean of Harvard law . She diversified the faculty, hiring prominent conservatives. But her tenure included controversy; she enforced a long-standing anti-discrimination policy there, blocking military recruiters from the law school because of the Pentagon 's ban on gays in the military . Last year President Obama appointed her solicitor general , responsible for arguing the government 's position before the Supreme Court .
Ms. KAGAN: Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the court , I have three very quick points to make about the government 's position.
P. WILLIAMS: Some Republicans say her lack of experience as a judge clouds her nomination .
Senator MITCH McCONNELL (Minority Leader): The lifetime position on the Supreme Court does not lend itself to on-the-job training.
P. WILLIAMS: But some Senate Democrats consider her background a plus.
Senator PATRICK LEAHY (Democrat, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair): I worry when you're in a judicial monastery that you don't have the kind of real world experience you might have otherwise. So I -- and she brings a breadth of experience .
P. WILLIAMS: And a Supreme Court expert says her lack of experience as a judge leaves a scant paper trail .
Mr. TOM GOLDSTEIN (Supreme Court Expert): No track record when it comes to abortion, affirmative action , religion, a lot of the hot button social issues that could give rise to a huge nomination fight.
P. WILLIAMS: A few other points about her: accomplished poker player, opera lover, and, given that nickname that Justice Marshall gave to her, she's five foot 3", Brian. ||||| Senate Republicans pressed Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan Wednesday on her lack of judicial experience and her support for a policy that once banned military recruiters from some college campuses in her first appearance on Capitol Hill since her nomination earlier this week.
Following in the tradition of past Supreme Court nominees, Kagan visited the offices of key senators for private meetings lasting about 30 minutes each. Kagan, the U.S. solicitor general, said almost nothing publicly, ignoring questions shouted at her by reporters as she walked through the halls of Congress with four White House officials in tow.
Most of the five members she has met with so far -- three Democrats and two Republicans -- have said little in detail about their sessions. But Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, which will hold Kagan's nomination hearings, said he aired GOP concerns about her lack of judicial experience.
"She indicated she felt she had the experience to do the job, and she didn't hesitate in that answer," Sessions said after his session with Kagan. If confirmed to replace Justice John Paul Stevens, Kagan would be the only current member of the court who did not previously serve as an appeals court judge.
Sessions also said he remained concerned about Kagan's criticism of the U.S. military's recruitment efforts at Harvard Law School when she was dean. Kagan signed a legal brief, along with numerous other law schools and professors, defending the right of universities to bar recruiters because of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
"That you think you could disagree with a legal policy of the military and that would allow you to in any way inhibit their ability to come to your campus I think indicates some of the dangers of being in the rarefied atmosphere of the academy," Sessions said after the meeting.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said he was worried Kagan might be a "rubber stamp" for the policies of the Obama administration.
Democrats, as expected, praised Kagan. After meeting with her, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) described Kagan as "the right choice to replace Justice Stevens." He pledged to make her path to the nation's highest court "as smooth as possible."
Kagan's arrival on Wednesday created a familiar spectacle on Capitol Hill. As occurred after the nominations of John G. Roberts Jr. and Sonia Sotomayor, at the start of each meeting, dozens of reporters and photographers entered the suite of the senator hosting the session.
While photographers snapped pictures of Kagan sitting beside the senator, reporters shouted questions. Kagan smiled and bobbed her head occasionally, but never said a word except "thank you" to the senator she was meeting with.
It's not yet clear if Kagan is offering a "repetition of platitudes," the phrase the nominee herself used in a 1995 article to describe how Supreme Court nominees speak to the senators during the confirmation process. Back then, she called for the Senate to explore "the essential rightness -- the legitimacy and the desirability -- of exploring a Supreme Court nominee's set of constitutional views and commitments."
Nominees generally don't answer such pointed questions, arguing that their answers could prejudice them if they heard a potential case. | – President Obama plans to nominate Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court to replace John Paul Stevens tomorrow, MSNBC reports and numerous other sources comfirm. Should Kagan, 50, be confirmed, the high court would have three female justices for the first time. Her nomination marks the first time in 38 years that a Supreme Court nominee was not a sitting judge, notes the Washington Post. Kagan, the first female solicitor general, was confirmed to that post last year by a 61-31 vote, but the path to the high court is likely to be considerably rockier. | [
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Austrian businessman Richard Lugner has made a tradition of paying starlets big bucks to accompany him to Vienna’s annual Opera Ball. This year, RadarOnline.com has learned that he paid Kim Kardashian $500,000 to be his date. But he’s not getting his money’s worth! Just hours after Kardashian’s arrival with mom Kris Jenner and baby North West, Lugner spoke out to local media to complain about how Kardashian had stood him up to film scenes for Keeping Up with the Kardashians!
“Kim is annoying me,” Lugner told reporters. “Because she’s not sticking to the program.”
Only hours after her arrival, Lugner claimed, the reality star stood him up to go to a Schnitzel restaurant with her mom Jenner, and film scenes for her reality show.
PHOTOS: Kardashian’s Frozen Face Takes In The Sights In Vienna
“She’s filming and so she doesn’t want to have me around,” he said.
The 81-year-old angrily insisted, “The guest should be with me and not anywhere else that is not agreed upon.”
And even when it comes to scheduled appearances, Kardashian has made it clear she won’t follow his schedule. Though Lugner had told press he would dance with her at 11:45 p.m. during the ball, Kardashian said in a press conference that she’d have mom Jenner take her place, explaining, “I’d rather watch the dancing.”
PHOTOS: Like Mother, Like Daughter: Kim Kardashian & Kris Jenner Have A White Party For Two In NY
Kardashian was set to attend the ball Thursday night, and Lugner revealed he had already taken special measures to make sure he was ready for the spotlight: He told reporters he had gotten fifteen shots of Botox, saying, “What’s good for [Kim] is good for me too.”
Despite the drama, Kardashian is hardly Lugner’s worst date of all time. That honor surely goes to Lindsay Lohan, who didn’t even show up for her scheduled appearance in 2010 after she missed her flight. ||||| Kim Kardashian Vienna Ball Insulted Me With Kanye 'Black Face'
Kim Kardashian -- Vienna Ball Insulted Me With Kanye 'Black Face'
EXCLUSIVE
stormed out of the hoity-toity Vienna Ball after some white dude working the event came up to her in black face, pretending to beKim was paid $500K to be the guest of, an Austrian businessman who has a long history of paying starlets half-a-mil to be his arm candy at the Vienna Annual Opera Ball.Lugner just did an interview trashing Kim for not sticking to the program, saying, "Kim is annoying me."But we're told she was taking pics with Lugner when a guy who was working the ball came up to her ... IN BLACK FACE acting like he was Kanye. She walked away from the guy, but had to stay another hour and a half.The final straw. A short time later a guy came up to Kim and asked her to dance. She said she wasn't a good dancer, and then the guy responded, he would dance with her if the orchestra played "N****rs in Vienna."Kim is saying there were other problems. She told her people Lugner was aggressive, at times grabbing her and imploring her to lose her security. She said Lugner was trying to be alone with her.And, we're told a lot of this was caught on tape because Kim was shooting for her reality show. | – Kim Kardashian was the latest celebrity paid ($500,000, in this case) to escort Austrian businessman Richard Lugner to the Vienna Opera Ball last night, but the evening didn't exactly go as planned. Sources tell TMZ Kardashian was posing for pictures with Lugner when a worker approached her in blackface, pretending to be Kanye West. She stayed at the ball, but then another man asked her to dance—and when she tried to decline, the guy told her the orchestra should play "N-----s in Vienna" for them to dance to, and she stormed out of the event. Prior to the ball, Lugner complained to reporters that "Kim is annoying me, because she's not sticking to the program," Radar reports. Hours after Kardashian arrived in Vienna, with mom Kris Jenner and daughter North West in tow, Lugner says she stood him up to go film scenes for Keeping Up With the Kardashians. "The guest should be with me and not anywhere else that is not agreed upon," said 81-year-old Lugner. But Kardashian had her own complaints, sources say: She claims Lugner grabbed her aggressively and was attempting to get alone with her. At least Kardashian showed up for the escort gig: In 2010, Lindsay Lohan bailed. | [
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More than $300,000 has been spent on the investigation into the unsolved shooting death of a Fox Lake police lieutenant, according to a review of personnel records from 50 suburban Chicago police agencies.
Almost two-thirds of that number, about $196,000, was related to overtime, according to an analysis by the Daily Herald. The review also found that departments with employees assigned to the Lake County Major Crime Task Force had some of the highest costs.
The killing of Fox Lake Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz on Sept. 1 prompted a manhunt for three suspects. Authorities later confirmed Gliniewicz had been shot twice with his own weapon. Investigators have revealed little else.
Despite a wide search and a month of detective work, police haven't made any arrests, identified any suspects or come up with a possible motive. Questions have swirled around the investigation — particularly since the county coroner said he has been unable to rule the 52-year-old Gliniewicz's death a homicide, suicide or an accident.
The review found that 283 people from 50 suburban Chicago police departments and sheriff's offices were involved in the first three weeks after the shooting, either assisting in the investigation or covering shifts for others. That amounts to more than 5,700 hours of work.
"It's something worth spending the taxpayers' money on," Mundelein Village Manager John Lobaito said. That suburb spent about $23,000.
The Lake County sheriff's office sent 93 employees to help with the investigation at a cost of nearly $46,000 in overtime.
Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Chris Covelli said that once a major crimes task force investigation starts, it's understood that individual departments will pick up the cost of the employees they send to work on it.
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||||| (CNN) Initially hailed as a hero after his death, Fox Lake, Illinois, police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz is now likely to be remembered by another label: a betrayer.
What once appeared to be the killing of an officer in the line of duty turned out to be "a carefully staged suicide," George Filenko, Lake County Major Crimes Task Force commander, said Wednesday.
"This staged suicide was the end result of extensive criminal acts that Gliniewicz had been committing," Filenko said, announcing the conclusions of the investigation into the officer's September 1 death.
The officer had been stealing and laundering money from a police department program that mentored young people hoping to become law enforcement officers, Filenko said. Gliniewicz, a leader in that program, had been stealing money for at least seven years, he said.
The investigation found that the officer, who had experience creating mock crime scenes, staged his suicide to make it look like a homicide.
The officer placed his equipment at the scene in an "attempt to mislead first responders and investigators to believe this was a homicide," Filenko said.
'Ultimate betrayal'
Far from being a hero, Gliniewicz "committed the ultimate betrayal" with his actions over the past several years, Filenko said. "He behaved for years in a manner completely contrary to the image he portrayed."
Another reversal occurred Wednesday. A group that gave Gliniewicz's family $15,000 asked for the money back.
The 100 Club, which assists families of first responders who lose their lives in the line of duty, said it "must stay true" to the group's mission.
Gliniewicz's family didn't reply to that request but issued a statement asking for privacy as it coped "with the loss of a beloved husband and father."
Gliniewicz was well known in Fox Lake. Before becoming a police officer, Gliniewicz served active duty in the Army and Reserve from 1980 to 2007, earning the nickname GI Joe from those who knew him. He left the military with a rank of first sergeant.
The initial assumptions shifted when investigators "didn't see anything to indicate there was a struggle physically" in the officer's death, Filenko said.
Investigators then found that the village of Fox Lake, north of Chicago, had started "a thorough internal audit of all of their assets" that Gliniewicz was concerned might unearth proof of his illicit financial activities, Filenko said.
Investigators recovered 6,500 text messages Gliniewicz had deleted, Filenko said, and looked at thousands of pages of bank statements that showed financial improprieties.
"We just went where the facts took us," he said.
The investigation indicates at least two others were involved in criminal activity, though that inquiry is ongoing, and police are not commenting further for now, he said.
Authorities released text messages Gliniewicz exchanged with unidentified people in which he discussed the Explorer Post, the youth organization sponsored by the police department. Gliniewicz wanted sponsorship moved to another organization so the city administrator would not scrutinize the post finances.
"Chief won't sign off to move it to american legion and if she gets ahold of the old checking account, im pretty well f***ed," a May 13 text said.
On June 25 he advised that same person "to start dumping money into that account or you will be visiting me in JAIL!! The 1600 and the 777 all came from there..."
At Wednesday's press briefing, Filenko was asked whether police allowed the narrative of Gliniewicz to spread, even as investigators started having doubts.
"We completely believed from day one that (the death of Gliniewicz) was a homicide," he said. "Our intention was never to mislead the public."
The last call
Gliniewicz was under increasing levels of stress from scrutiny into what the investigators found to be criminal activity, Filenko said.
The veteran officer had planned to retire in August, but he was asked to stay on for another month.
The last radio call of his more than 30 years on the job was anything but routine. It would signal the beginning of a mystery that stumped investigators for a time.
On the morning of September 1, the lieutenant sent word over his radio at 7:52 that he was pursuing a trio on foot. Three minutes later, he requested backup. Radio communication dropped off. Colleagues would not hear Gliniewicz's voice again.
The backups arrived about 8 a.m. and a few minutes later found Gliniewicz dead. His body was roughly 50 yards from his cruiser, police said.
Three people who appeared in a surveillance video near the crime scene were cleared of suspicion.
The shooting
Gliniewicz was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time he was shot, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation. One of the officials said two shots hit Gliniewicz -- one stopped by his bulletproof vest, and another entered his torso at a downward angle.
The officer's .40-caliber pistol was found at the scene. A source involved in the investigation told CNN in September that Gliniewicz's gun was fired, but it wasn't clear who pulled the trigger.
Lake County officials said the case was being handled as a homicide, but other theories remained on the table during the investigation, including the possibility of a self-inflicted fatal gunshot wound.
The coroner said he couldn't rule out a homicide, suicide or accident.
A massive manhunt was launched in the aftermath.
More than 400 law enforcement officers raked through the heavy woods near Fox Lake on foot, all-terrain vehicles and horseback.
The FBI, U.S. marshals and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also helped in the hunt as well as police from adjoining areas. But eventually they pulled out, saying no suspects or persons of interest had been identified. ||||| FOX LAKE, Illinois — Investigators never found the men suspected of killing Lt. “GI Joe” Gliniewicz. Not for lack of effort, not for lack of evidence, and not for enough tips.
The men didn’t exist.
The three vaguely described suspects, “two male white, one male black,” were apparently a product of Gliniewicz’s imagination, ginned up to make himself go out like a hero.
Fox Lake police on Wednesday said Gliniewicz’s death was a “carefully staged suicide.” Gliniewicz had been stealing and laundering thousands of dollars from the police department’s youth auxiliary program for personal purchases, the department said. The purchases included gym memberships, porn websites, and mortgage payments.
Perhaps Gliniewicz believed his alleged theft was in danger of being uncovered. If he was caught, his life as he knew it—gung ho cop, patriotic Army veteran, spectacular father, loving husband—would be over.
“Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law-enforcement community,” said George Filenko, commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force. “Personally, this is the first time as a police officer that I’m ashamed by the actions of a member of law enforcement.”
As a leader in the police “explorer” program, Gliniewicz had extensive experience mocking up crime scenes to train aspiring cops, and officials say he used those skills to throw police off the trail of his deception.
His hoax sent local, state, and federal law enforcement down an expensive path, conducting what for months has been officially considered a homicide investigation. Initial estimates pegged the cost for the manhunt in the hours and days following Gliniewicz’s death at about $300,000. (On Wednesday, Filenko couldn’t say what the total cost for the investigation was.)
While the loss of a father and husband has devastated the Gliniewicz family—as well as his fellow officers at the Fox Lake Police Department—the new information provided by authorities may be even more painful to consider. The man known in this small northern Illinois town as “GI Joe” apparently wasn’t what he seemed, and he spent his last day trying to protect that legacy—of a committed cop and patriot, of a loving family man, of an American hero.
The theft might not have been in danger of being exposed when Gliniewicz was called in by the village administrator in August to assist in what has been called a “clean slate review” of the department after the former police chief resigned in the wake of allegations that a drunk had been roughed up in the jail.
Filenko said Wednesday that the still-unnamed officer disciplined in that case was not Gliniewicz, but it is unclear exactly when and how police began looking at the lieutenant for his alleged theft.
Regardless, Gliniewicz apparently thought he was in danger. Among the evidence presented Wednesday were text messages sent between Gliniewicz and two other unnamed individuals who remain under investigation.
In one, Glinieiwicz and a person identified only as “Individual 2” talked about village administrator Anne Marrin’s probe into the police department. “She hates me and I’ve never said more than 3 sentences to her the shes (sic) been here,” Gliniewicz wrote.
The recipient responded: “Hopefully she decides to get a couple of drinks in her and she gets a DUI.”
The texts also include one from Gliniewicz to ex-chief Michael Behan.
“[Marrin] has now demanded a complete inventory of [police explorer] central and a financial report…FML.”
Police did not provide The Daily Beast with Behan’s response. But considering Gliniewicz was in communication with the former chief regarding what police consider a crime, it’s probably safe to say he was in on the fraud.
Marrin didn’t take questions Wednesday, but with her voice shaking slightly it was clear she was distraught at what authorities have learned about a man they were honoring as a hero just a few months ago.
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GI Joe was honored on the floor of the U.S. Senate by Dick Durbin of Illinois. The officer’s image was splayed on a video screen at Soldier Field during a Chicago Bears game. Little girls operated lemonade stands to raise money for the Gliniewicz family. At least one man paid for a tattoo to have the fallen cop memorialized.
At the same time, his death provided more fuel for those who said it was the latest piece of evidence in rising anti-police sentiment, partly as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Conservative wheels started spinning the moment Gliniewicz hit the ground—This is what you get when you question the police, the thinking went that warm week in late August. Dead cops.
Turns out it had nothing to do with Black Lives Matter, or suspicious men, or protecting and serving, or defending law and order. Instead it had everything to do with whatever was going on between Gliniewicz’s ears and in the heart he fired his own gun into.
Despite the extensive investigation, there remain serious questions that need to be answered in Fox Lake. Police made clear Wednesday that it was known fairly early that no one had touched Gliniewicz’s gun other than GI Joe himself. That, combined with the knowledge that the fatal bullet came from Gliniewicz’s own gun should have been enough to confirm a suicide weeks ago.
But it apparently wasn’t.
Coroner Thomas Rudd’s decision to inform the press that Gliniewicz’s gun was the murder weapon on Oct. 1 angered police. Filenko dressed down Rudd, telling any media outlet that would listen how the medical examiner’s release of the only pertinent information to come out since Gliniewicz died had put the entire investigation “in jeopardy.”
Filenko didn’t say how Rudd’s actions had done so at today’s press conference. As far as what will happen to the DNA samples “randomly” collected from hundreds of Fox Lake residents, or how many there even are, Filenko said, “I don’t know.”
Throughout it all, Filenko and others have insisted that they kept everything on the table, that nothing was discounted even as the mayor of Fox Lake called Gliniewicz’s death the “heinous murder of a police officer.”
All for a man who allegedly stole from his own department and the town that supported it, then deceived his fellow officers by concocting a fake emergency, and adding to his own family’s grief by tarnishing what had been a stellar career in law enforcement and a life of commitment to his loved ones until that day.
In his wake, Gliniewicz left confusion, anger, and sadness—perhaps even more so now that we know more about the full breadth of his actions. One of his sons, D.J., was especially torn.
“I know my father. My family knows my father and so do his closest friends,” D.J. told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in September. “He is not someone who ever contemplated suicide or had suicidal tendencies.”
All of those people were wrong. They apparently didn’t know as much as they’d thought about GI Joe.
He lied in life and he lied in death. ||||| Investigators: Gliniewicz committed 'ultimate betrayal,' they didn't mislead
hello
Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Cmdr. George Filenko said Gliniewicz was using the Explorer fund "as his personal bank account." He added that $250,000 flowed through the account over seven years, and investigators estimated Gliniewicz took about "five figures" worth of funds. Gilbert R. Boucher II | Staff Photographer
Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Cmdr. George Filenko said Gliniewicz a staged trail of police equipment at the crime scene in an attempt to mislead police to believe his death was a homicide. Gilbert R. Boucher II | Staff Photographer
Once hailed a hero cop, Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz was exposed by authorities Wednesday as an embezzler who tried to make his death look like murder to deceive investigators.
In a well-attended news conference, Lake County Major Crimes Task Force leader George Filenko said Gliniewicz shot himself in the chest two months ago because he feared his theft of money from the Fox Lake Law Enforcement Explorer youth program, which he ran, was going to be uncovered by a village audit.
"Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community," Filenko told reporters at the Round Lake Beach Cultural and Civic Center. "The facts of his actions proved he behaved for years in a manner completely contrary to the image he portrayed."
Lake County police pursued the case as a homicide at the start, but mounting evidence began painting a shady picture of how the 52-year-old police officer and military veteran lived and died.
The case broke open about 10 days ago after authorities finished reviewing bank records, text messages and emails that indicated Gliniewicz had been stealing money from the group for seven years and had forged signatures on official documents as part of his crimes.
Filenko estimated the amount of money stolen stretched into "five figures." The investigation remains open, he said.
According to Filenko, Gliniewicz deceived village officials, his fellow police officers and ultimately the investigators trying to solve the mystery of his Sept. 1 death in a swampy area near downtown Fox Lake.
"This is the first time in my career in law enforcement that I've felt ashamed by the acts of another police officer," Filenko said.
Attorney Henry "Skip" Tonigan released a statement on behalf of the Gliniewicz family saying: "Today has been another day of deep sorrow for the Gliniewicz family. The family has cooperated with the task force's investigation and will not comment at this time. The Gliniewicz family requests that their privacy be respected as they continue to cope with the loss of the beloved husband and father."
But ABC 7 Chicago reported late Wednesday that Gliniewicz's wife, Melodie, and son D.J. are under investigation in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the Fox Lake Police Explorer Program, citing anonymous sources.
Investigation details
Filenko was joined at the news conference by Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd and Lake County sheriff's spokesman Christopher Covelli. They detailed the investigation, which included the review of more than 6,500 pages of text messages, thousands of pages of financial documents, 40,000 emails, more than 430 leads and a comprehensive victimology report prepared by federal investigators.
Filenko said it was the most comprehensive evidentiary investigation in Lake County history.
Rudd said Gliniewicz was killed by the second of two bullets the veteran officer fired from his .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol about 8 a.m. Sept. 1.
During the news conference, Rudd said the fatal wound was to the officer's chest and didn't go through his protective vest, indicating the weapon was placed between his body and vest when it was fired.
Rudd mimicked a gun with his hand and pointed it down from his chin to his chest to demonstrate the fatal shot.
Officials said Gliniewicz first radioed dispatchers at 7:52 a.m., claiming he'd be at the village-owned old concrete plant on Honing Road to check on two white men and a black man who were acting suspiciously.
He radioed again at 7:55 a.m., saying the suspicious suspects took off into the swamp and that he'd need backup. The next radio dispatch was from the officer who found Gliniewicz shot at 8:09 a.m. He was pronounced dead at 8:25 a.m.
The immediate discovery of Gliniewicz's body and radio transmissions he made before his death led officers to believe Gliniewicz was gunned down by the offenders he was chasing, Filenko said. In addition, Filenko said there were signs of a struggle near where officers found him.
On Wednesday, Filenko said the three men might not have been invented by Gliniewicz as part of his charade. He may have seen them as he drove to the spot where he killed himself, Filenko said.
Three men who matched that description were questioned by police but not charged. On Wednesday, Filenko said the men "have rock-solid alibis."
Evidence was staged
Gliniewicz's death touched off a massive manhunt that involved scores of heavily armed police officers who used helicopters and dogs to search for the three suspected gunmen.
Village hall, schools, and the Fox Lake Public Library were locked down and closed during the search, and several roads were blocked off by police during the hunt.
But on Wednesday, Filenko revealed Gliniewicz created a trail of equipment consisting of his pepper spray canister, an extended baton and his glasses to mislead officers and rescue units, Filenko said. The items were scattered over an area about 300 feet long, leading to where his body was found.
Filenko added that members of the FBI determined Gliniewicz had not fought for his life at the scene and was not dragged after the initial shot was fired. In addition, Gliniewicz's gun was found at the scene in tall grass less than 3 feet from his body.
Gliniewicz had significant experience in staging mock crime scenes for police explorer training, which ultimately assisted him in staging the crime scene, Filenko said. That knowledge helped throw investigators off the right trail, he said.
Didn't mislead public
At the news conference, Filenko repeatedly denied deliberately misleading the public about the nature of Gliniewicz's death.
Investigators considered the case a homicide until all the financial and text evidence came to light, he said.
"We did not know," he said. "(We) never intended to mislead the public."
When asked if he felt he owed the public an apology, Filenko said no.
"We go where the facts lead us," he said. "We don't jump to conclusions. We work on facts."
Rudd, who came under fire from police for releasing details about Gliniewicz's death early in the investigation, also said he had no regrets about how the case was handled.
Fox Lake Mayor Donny Schmit said the last 60 days have taken a toll on the community "like never before."
"For two months, our residents were left with few answers about what took place the morning of Sept. 1 in our community," Schmit said in a statement. "We are pleased to have finally reached some resolution regarding Lt. Gliniewicz's untimely death." ||||| Fox Lake officials on Tuesday night said they are committed to continuing a program for young adults aspiring to careers in law enforcement that had been led by a veteran officer fatally shot last month.
Authorities are still investigating the death of Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, 52, a leader in the Fox Lake Law Enforcement Explorers Post 300 and well known in the community for his work mentoring teens and young adults in the program.
At a village board meeting Tuesday night, Mayor Donny Schmit said that while there may be some changes to the Explorers program, the board and village very much want to see it continue.
"After the devastating loss of Lt. Gliniewicz, that was one of our primary concerns, who would take over the Explorers program," said Sgt. Michael Ostertag, who interim Police Chief Michael Keller tapped to take over as the lead advisor for the Explorer post.
"The post is part of our department, they're part of our family, part of our village," Ostertag said.
Without Gliniewicz, the post, chartered to the Fox Lake Police Department, had fallen short of the required number of leaders, said Mike Hale, scout executive of the Boy Scouts of America's Northeast Illinois Council.
Sgt. Dawn Deservi, a former Fox Lake Explorer, has also volunteered to serve as an advisor, Keller said.
The Boy Scouts spoke with Fox Lake police late last week to talk about the program's future and what they would need to do to continue, Hale said.
Keller said the post remains active but equipment has been secured as part of the village's ongoing review of police assets and equipment.
That review began after former Chief Michael Behan's Aug. 28 retirement and is "standard and considered a best practice" as part of a change in leadership, village officials said in a September statement.
Behan announced his retirement shortly after he was placed on paid administrative leave as part of an internal investigation into how police handled a December 2014 arrest.
"It's important for us to take the time we need to get that done," Keller said.
Village and police officials have also been looking at new policies and procedures, with more details available in a couple weeks, Keller said.
"We're now starting to make (the Explorers) more of a focus as we move forward," he said.
Keller and Deservi said they'll be working with the Boy Scouts to align their post's activities with the Boy Scouts' Explorers curriculum and requirements for competitions.
Keller said he couldn't list specific differences between Fox Lake's existing programming and the Boy Scouts' curriculum as he's new to the department, but said the goal is to make sure the local program is in line with the recommendations.
Ostertag said he'd met with the Explorers last week and they'd be meeting weekly at the police station going forward.
"I'm looking forward to continuing the great post that Lt. Gliniewicz did establish and maintain all these years," he said.
No Explorers or family members spoke at the board meeting but Gina Arbay, whose son is a member of the program, said she wanted to attend to hear what village officials had planned.
While she had not been concerned about the Explorers' future in Fox Lake, she said she was pleased to hear it had full village and police support.
"I'm excited," she said.
In other business at Tuesday's board meeting, village trustees approved payments including $25,020 to a detective agency hired as part of the village's internal investigation that led to the former chief and another officer being placed on leave.
Village spokesman Dave Bayless said Gliniewicz was not involved in that investigation, though he had been participating in the police review of equipment and procedures.
lzumbach@tribpub.com
Twitter @LaurenZumbach | – The Illinois cop found shot to death in September, setting off a statewide manhunt for three suspects he had told dispatchers he was chasing, actually orchestrated a "carefully staged suicide," George Filenko, the commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, said in a press conference Wednesday, CNN reports. That confirmed earlier reports that Joe Gliniewicz had killed himself, but what emerged at the presser was more shocking: that Gliniewicz had taken his own life after committing criminal acts, the AP notes. "Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community," Filenko said, per the Daily Beast, adding that the police officer had "intentionally left a staged trail of police equipment at the crime scene." Filenko tells the Daily Herald that the popular officer known as "GI Joe" stole and laundered somewhere in "the five figures" from the department's Explorer program—a training program for youth interested in a career in law enforcement—using it "as his personal bank account." Gliniewicz allegedly used the funds for gym memberships, travel, his mortgage, and adult websites. What helped crack the case: electronic messages deleted from his work and personal cellphones, Filenko adds. There were questions about Gliniewicz's death almost from the start, including that the fatal bullet had come from his own gun, as well as an initial refusal by the coroner to rule out suicide or an accident, CNN and the Daily Beast note. Now Filenko may have to walk back angry statements he made about the coroner—as well as justify the estimated $300,000 price tag for the manhunt. | [
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An Alberta man has been found liable for a freak runaway snowmobile accident in British Columbia in which the unmanned vehicle drove the length of nine football fields before crashing into its owner's friend, causing "horrific" injuries.
Devon Webb and Angelo Passerin, both from Whitecourt, Alta., were on vacation riding through the Renshaw area near McBride, B.C., on March 22, 2013.
Webb's sister, Sarah, was also on the trip. According to a B.C. Supreme Court judgment, Passerin stopped to help Sarah after she got stuck on a side hill.
The Renshaw area of McBride is popular among snowmobilers from B.C. and Alberta. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)
Passerin shut off his snowmobile, took a look around and started walking toward Webb.
He made it about three metres before Devon Webb's runaway snowmobile came flying at him, seemingly out of nowhere.
The judgment said neither he nor Sarah Webb heard it coming and that warning shouts from friends had not a "hope in hell" of being heard, either.
'Freak accident'
Devon Webb, riding at half speed "some distance" behind his sister and Passerin, had lost control of his snowmobile after running into an unexpected snowdrift.
He was thrown over the handlebars, but the snowmobile kept going without him.
The judgment said it flew over a 30-metre cliff, into a snowy ravine and back out the other side. It continued racing at "full throttle" for up to 1,500 metres before it crashed into Passerin and came to a stop.
The remains of Passerin's snowmobile after it was hit by Webb's runaway vehicle. Passerin told the court he never heard the snowmobile coming. (Angelo Passerin)
Passerin's lawyer, Frank Scordo, said the combination of events and unfortunate timing is almost unbelievable.
"It's a very freak accident, there's no doubt about it," he said.
In a notice of civil claim, Passerin sought damages for a number of physical injuries including a traumatic brain injury, fractured vertebrae, broken leg bones, scarring, numbness and a permanent limp.
He also sued for loss of enjoyment of life and loss of of future earning capacity.
Altogether, the lawsuit's list of Passerin's claimed losses is more than 30 bullet points long.
Safety cord wasn't attached
Devon Webb's snowmobile, a 2012 Ski Doo 800, was outfitted with a number of safety features including a tether cord.
Tether cords are attached to a snowmobile's cap, which acts as a key, and then fastened to a rider's clothes. If the rider falls off, the cord should yank the cap out of the snowmobile, cutting the ignition.
Webb was an experienced rider who kept his snowmobile maintained and knew about the safety features. However, the judge found that Webb didn't have his tether cord attached when he was thrown from the vehicle.
A tether cord, pictured here on the same snowmobile model Webb had, is a safety function that is supposed cut the ignition in runaway scenario. The cord is attached to the key and the rider's clothing, so the key is pulled out when the rider falls. (Submitted on behalf of Angelo Passerin)
Failing to wear the cord means he breached the standard of care he owed Passerin, so Webb was found liable.
Scordo said the ruling is likely a first in B.C.
"We weren't able to find any cases dealing with tether cords not being connected," the lawyer said.
Passerin is entitled to costs, but his lawyer said it will be complicated to figure out just how much.
The runaway snowmobile wasn't insured and Passerin only had coverage in Alberta. He and his lawyer will have to prove his losses in that province in order to settle on a number.
"It's a process, but he's going to be entitled to significant damages … they're horrific injuries," said Scordo.
"Rather than giving a number, that'll give a good basis for the damages that this man suffered." ||||| Judgment Not Found
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To return to the Recent Judgments list, please click on either of the following: ||||| Man found liable for runaway snowmobile crash near McBride
Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK
March 03, 2018 - 2:00 PM
MCBRIDE - A man has won his case in court after being seriously injured when a runaway snowmobile crashed into him in the McBride area nearly five years ago.
On March 21, 2013, Angelo Passerin, Devon Webb, and approximately eight other people headed to McBride to snowmobile the next day. Webb's sister Sarah and father Dave were also there.
Webb was an experienced snowmobiler, according to a written decision by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley. He added that the group drank and socialized when they arrived that night.
The next morning they headed north of McBride to snowmobile the Mount Renshaw area. They paid for their trail passes and headed up a groomed logging road, stopping about halfway to have a beer.
"Several in the group, including Mr. Passerin had a beer," Dley said in his decision. "Mr. Webb was not interested in drinking – he had come to snowmobile."
After a morning of snowmobiling, the whole group gathered for lunch, where several people drank beer and Passerin drank vodka and cranberry juice from a miniature water bottle. Webb didn't consume any alcohol, Dley said.
After lunch the group headed back out and Webb tried to find a route into some lower bowls that would be accommodating for the less experienced riders in their group. Passerin was a distance away.
About 15 minutes after lunch Passerin saw Sarah Webb standing on her snowmobile and waving at him. Her machine was stuck in some deep snow.
Passerin walked toward Sarah to help her, but after walking about 10 feet he was struck by Webb's snowmobile. Neither Sarah nor Passerin heard it coming, Dley said.
Webb had been going uphill at half throttle when he encountered a snowdrift. He applied the brakes and his snowmobile pitched forward and down, tossing him off. The rider-less snowmobile went over a 100-foot cliff, climbed out of a 20-foot powdered ravine and raced at full throttle for one to one-and-a-half kilometres until it struck Passerin, Dley said.
It finally stopped after colliding with Sarah Webb’s nearby machine.
A co-worker of Webb's was a distance away for Sarah and Passerin, and saw the unmanned snowmobile coming toward the pair. He tried to get their attention but his shouts were not heard.
The group tended to Passerin until he was airlifted away approximately three to four hours later.
There were several safety functions on Webb's snowmobile, including a tether that would stop the machine if the rider fell off, a kill switch, and a spring on the throttle to stop the machine within 10 feet if pressure was completely taken off of it, Dley said.
Dley did not believe that Webb had attached the tether cord to himself that day.
"Overall, Mr. Webb was an unreliable witness," Dley said. "His testimony was fraught with contradictions on material points. His testimony was so unreliable that I cannot accept his assertion that he had attached the tether cord to his clothing."
Warnings that had been on the snowmobile when Webb first got it reminded riders to check the safety features before each trip. According to the decision, Webb testified that he did not check the throttle or the safety cord after lunch.
"In coming to my conclusion that Mr. Webb did not have the tether cord properly affixed to his clothing at the time of the fall, I have rejected Mr. Webb’s assertions that he was wearing the cord properly," Dley said. "I accept the evidence, that if the tether cord had been affixed to Mr. Webb’s clothing, his fall from the machine would have likely caused the cap to pull off the post, thereby shutting off the engine. I have also drawn an inference from Mr. Webb’s failure to do the safety checks after lunch, as an indication that he did not have much regard for safety measures."
Webb argued that if he was found liable for the crash, Passerin should be found just as liable considering he had drank the night before and during lunch.
"The mere fact that a person has been drinking does not automatically result in the assumption that impairment is the natural result," Dley said. "There is no evidence to establish that Mr. Passerin was impaired in any way. I cannot conclude that the limited consumption of alcohol affected Mr. Passerin’s ability to react, observe or avoid the collision."
Although it's not clear how much, Dley ruled that Passerin is entitled to costs.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Ashley Legassic or call 250-319-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. | – A fun day snowmobiling in British Columbia left one man with "horrific" injuries and another liable for them after he was thrown off his snowmobile and the vehicle kept going, slamming into one of his companions. InfoTel News reports that Devon Webb, Angelo Passerin, and about eight others were snowmobiling after lunch in McBride on March 22, 2013, when Webb's sister, Sarah, became stuck in the snow, per a lawsuit filed by Passerin. Passerin saw her waving for help and went to assist, when suddenly a riderless snowmobile came out of nowhere and struck him down. It turned out Devon Webb had been thrown from his snowmobile, which then "traveled over a 100-foot cliff, climbed out of a 20-foot powdered ravine, and raced at full throttle for [0.6 to 0.9 miles] until it struck Mr. Passerin," the suit notes. It only stopped after slamming into Sarah Webb's snowmobile. The crash left Passerin with broken leg bones and vertebrae, a brain injury, and a limp now with him for life, the CBC reports. Webb was found liable because he wasn't wearing the tethered safety cord that should be hooked to each rider's clothing; if the rider falls off, the cord, attached to a cap on the snowmobile, yanks off the cap, which shuts the vehicle off. Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley found Webb had neglected to put his tether on, bucking precautions that would've kept his friend safe. Although Webb tried to argue that Passerin had been drinking—the latter had a vodka cranberry with his lunch, while Webb had consumed no alcohol—the judge found "no evidence" Passerin was impaired to the point where he could've avoided being hit by the runaway snowmobile. Both Passerin and Sarah Webb said they hadn't heard the snowmobile coming. | [
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Meet 18-Year-Old Cole Carman, One of the First Transgender Teens to Freeze Eggs Before Transitioning
Related Video: Transgender Teen Gets Her Own Reality Show
Courtesy Cole Carman
An 18-year-old from northern California has become one of the first transgender teenagers to freeze his eggs so he can have biological children later in life, his doctor says.Cole Carman, formerly known as Nicole, has undergone a double mastectomy and was about to start testosterone treatment in January when his doctor asked if he wanted to freeze his eggs first."[After] they told me that, I didn't [start testosterone treatment] and I did some research on the egg retrieving process," Carman told PEOPLE. "I already knew I wanted kids, so to say yes and make that decision was a no-brainer."The teen, who hails from the San Francisco area, had first started looking into transgender issues when he was 12, but didn't really understand what it meant to be transgender. He came to a better understanding of the definition last year."From there I had to just make sure I came to terms with myself and who I am before making a big decision like [undergoing surgery]," he said.Carman's parents' have been supporting him throughout the process of transitioning."I didn't really hesitate at all simply because Cole has always been mature in his thinking and I knew this was something that was really important to him," his mother C.J. Carman tells PEOPLE.C.J. said she and husband Pat were receptive to the idea of Cole freezing his eggs because she struggled to conceive – leading them to adopt Cole. "I wanted to make sure it was done before it couldn't be done," she said.Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, the doctor who performed the procedure on Carman at the end of May, says he is one of the first transgender teens to do this prior to transitioning."The concept of freezing eggs is not new for the transgender community, what I would say is typically you're seeing probably trans-males in their 30s who are trying to come off their testosterone and trying to freeze eggs," she commented. "This is an unusual [case] and probably one of the first, if not the first, for a teenager."His parents funded the entire procedure, which cost about $13,000. Carman advises other teens in his situation to think very carefully about how personally important it is to have biological children."It's a lot of money and there are other ways," he said. "You should think, how important would it be that your child is related to you? That would be the biggest factor to play in into making the decision."Eyvazzadeh said that Carman's procedure went very smoothly. "From the minute I met them, I wanted to help. I could tell that he was mature, he knew exactly what he wanted and this was self-directed," she said."It's a journey and an emotional roller coaster ride," C.J. said. "But I think it's really important for parents to understand that [the surgeries] aren't something that's a choice, they're a necessity. Love your child, be open minded and get information." ||||| Cole Carman, 18, became the first transgender teen to have a surgical procedure that will give him the opportunity to have a genetic link to the kids he knows he wants one day. (Photo: Cole Carman)
When 18-year-old Cole Carman made the decision to transition from female to male late last year, the San Francisco-area teen knew that he would be in for major surgery and hormone therapy.
STORY: Transgender 9-Year-Old Adapts to School Life as a Boy
That didn’t stop Carman, a recent high school grad set to start college in the fall, from signing on for another potentially risky medical procedure: egg retrieval. It’s a fairly routine (yet still major) surgery, typically undertaken by egg donors and some women undergoing in-vitro fertilization.
STORY: How I Told My Son His Friends Are Transgender
But Carman may be the first transgender teen to have his eggs successfully harvested before transitioning — preserving his ability to have children that he’ll be biologically related to, whether he chooses to carry a child himself or turn to a surrogate. “I’ve always known I wanted to have kids of my own, so when my endocrinologist talked to me about it, it was a no-brainer,” Carman told Yahoo Parenting.
The surgery, which was done at the end of May, wasn’t so simple. It required 10 days of hormone shots, and it left him dealing with side effects like bloating and cramping. During the procedure, a doctor used a needle to harvest as many egg follicles as possible, freezing them so they can be thawed and fertilized at some point in the future.
What makes Carman’s situation so groundbreaking is that up until recently, doctors didn’t routinely talk about fertility preservation to transgender teens or adults who were planning to transition.
“Some transgender people who realized after gender reassignment surgery that they wanted kids of their own had no chance, because they already had their reproductive organs removed,” Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, a fertility specialist in San Ramon, Calif., told Yahoo Parenting.
“Others who didn’t have ‘bottom’ [sex-reassignment] surgery still had difficulty, because after years of testosterone therapy, their ovaries would shut down and would not reawaken to create any viable eggs, or the eggs would be low quality,” she said.
Because Carman was so certain fatherhood was in his future, he researched the procedure, talked to his doctors and parents about it, and finally decided to go ahead.
Carman’s parents, who adopted their only child when he was five-and-a-half weeks old, couldn’t be more supportive. “When we realized this was an option, we went for it,” C.J. Carman, Cole’s mother, told Yahoo Parenting.
She says she and her husband were as supportive when Cole told them that he was transgender last November — something he began to realize when he was a young teen.
“The decision to do egg retrieval shows how forward-thinking and mature Cole is, because it’s not something you do on a whim,” says Eyvazzadeh. To help with the cost of storing the frozen eggs, she launched a fundraising page for Cole with the goal of raising $3,000, the fee for one year of storage.
With egg retrieval behind him, Cole underwent “top” surgery in June, a procedure that involves the removal of breast tissue. He’s begun testosterone therapy as well, and he’s already filed the papers to officially change his gender and his first name from Nicole to Coley. “The paperwork will be finalized in September,” he said.
As for the eggs that he put on ice, Cole has no immediate plans to thaw them and become a dad. He’ll be a first-year student at California State University at Sacramento in the fall, and plans to major in kinesiology. Fatherhood is a way’s off, he says, “like in eight or 10 years.” Whatever he decides, Cole at least has the option of someday having kids he’s genetically linked to.
Please follow @YahooParenting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Have an interesting story to share about your family? Email us at YParenting (at) Yahoo.com. | – An 18-year-old San Francisco-area transgender teen may be the first to have had eggs harvested prior to transition. Having decided last year to go from Nicole to Cole Carman, the teen decided to harvest his eggs first so it would be easier to have his own biological children down the road. "I've always known I wanted to have kids of my own, so ... it was a no-brainer," he tells Yahoo Parenting. Typically these procedures are performed when trans males are in their 30s, already transitioned, and decide to halt their testosterone so that they can be biologically related to their kids, says Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, who performed the successful procedure on Carman. But post-transition is far more challenging: "After years of testosterone therapy, their ovaries would shut down and would not reawaken to create any viable eggs, or the eggs would be low quality." Carman's parents, who adopted their only child when he was just 5 weeks old and know how hard it can be to conceive, funded the procedure themselves, paying $13,000 to have the eggs harvested in May. "I didn't really hesitate at all simply because Cole has always been mature in his thinking and I knew this was something that was really important to him," his mother tells People. Carman has reportedly been thinking about his gender, as well as what it means to be trans, since he was 12, and Eyvazzadeh says she wanted to help "from the minute" they met. "I could tell that he was mature, he knew exactly what he wanted and this was self-directed," she says. "It's not something you do on a whim." (Caitlyn Jenner is shocking some of her trans friends with her politics.) | [
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea turned its anger on South Korea on Friday, warning the South Koreans they could suffer “physical countermeasures” for any enforcement of the tightened international sanctions meant to stop its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons activities.
The North Korean warning came a day after it bluntly threatened the United States, saying North Korea had no interest in talks on denuclearizing itself and would forge ahead with its missile and weapons development, with the goal of attaining the capability to hit American territory. North Korea framed the warning, including a threat to stage a third nuclear test, as a deterrent to what it called American hostility and efforts to isolate the country.
While the tone of the message was not unexpected after the United Nations Security Council’s unanimous decision this week on North Korea sanctions, the threats represent a new challenge to President Obama as he begins his second term, and to the incoming conservative president of South Korea, Park Geun-hye. She had signaled she would be more open to the North than the current president, but since her election last month she has said she will not tolerate the North’s nuclear program and will deal sternly with what she has called North Korean provocations.
In a statement issued in the name of North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, which manages relations with South Korea, the North gave no hint of what countermeasures were envisioned against the South over enforcement of the sanctions.
While the North does not follow through on many of its threats, it does have a history of unexpected military attacks — most recently, its shelling of a border island in 2010 that left four South Koreans dead. It was also blamed for sinking a South Korean warship the same year, leaving 46 sailors dead, despite North Korean denials.
Those two episodes were among the most serious in decades between the two Koreas, dispelling Washington’s desire to engage North Korea in serious negotiation. While calling for a vigorous enforcement of United Nations sanctions, Glyn Davies, Washington’s special envoy on North Korea, also appealed Thursday to the North’s new leader, Kim Jong-un, not to miss opportunities for a new beginning, stressing that Washington could not improve ties with the North without progress in inter-Korean relations.
North Korea’s outburst against South Korea on Friday was the latest installment of a verbal barrage it started after the Security Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution condemning a Dec. 12 rocket launching by the North. The resolution called the launching a violation of earlier United Nations resolutions banning it from testing ballistic missile technology, and called for tightening sanctions against the country. Especially notable was that China, the longtime North Korean protector and advocate, voted for the resolution.
Referring to the South Koreans, North Korea said: “If the puppet group of traitors takes a direct part in the U.N. ‘sanctions,’ the D.P.R.K. will take strong physical countermeasures against it,” using the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “ ‘Sanctions’ mean a war and a declaration of war against us.”
The United Nations resolution was the fifth against the North for its rocket and nuclear programs since 1993. It calls for tightening existing sanctions, including expanding a travel ban on North Korean officials and broadening the means for United Nations member nations to intercept and confiscate cargo headed for the North.
Ms. Park’s office said Friday that the president-elect would soon send a high-level delegation to Washington for a policy consultation at which North Korea was expected to be a focus of discussion.
The United Nations sanctions and the North’s angry reactions dissipated early hopes that changes of leadership in the North, the South and in the Obama administration would open the way for easing tensions. North Korea, which has lived through American-led trade embargoes, considers itself a small yet proud nation struggling to maintain its independence in the face of an “imperialist” plot to erase it from the earth. It has typically called any new round of American-inspired sanctions a declaration of war.
For the United States, a new entanglement over North Korea could distract from the American focus on pressuring Iran over its disputed nuclear program, which the Iranians say is peaceful but which the West suspects is meant to develop nuclear weapons capability. Talks aimed at resolving that dispute are stalled.
Some strategic weapons policy analysts suggested that North Korea’s defiant tone, and the relatively muted American response, had set an example for Iran by demonstrating what can be achieved when an American adversary is armed with nuclear weapons. Iranian leaders, like North Korea’s Kim family, view America as a nuclear-armed bully that respects only the threat of force.
Jeffrey Lewis, a nonproliferation expert at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Calif., said he feared that North Korea was now intent on demonstrating the ability to produce a far more powerful nuclear weapon than the two relatively small nuclear devices it had tested so far.
“If you think international politics is basically about power and that power is basically about armaments, then having a small number of fission devices is not good enough,” he said. “You want big nuclear devices.” (American intelligence officials believe North Korea has enough plutonium for roughly 6 to 10 weapons.)
Others dismissed the idea that Iran is taking any political cues from North Korea. They noted that Iran remained a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and that Iranian leaders had repeatedly asserted that they had no interest in nuclear weapons.
“They see North Korea is starving and isolated with no resources whatsoever,” said Gary G. Sick, an American academic and Iran expert who served on the National Security Council under the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations. He called the connectivity on the nuclear issue between Iran and North Korea “a Western argument — I’ve never seen anybody in Iran make that argument.” ||||| South Korea's new president will not tolerate North Korean provocations but will continue to push for dialogue with Pyongyang, a special envoy to President-elect Park Geun-hye said just hours after the North's top governing body declared it would continue atomic tests and rocket launches.
In this Jan. 24, 2013 photo, students walk toward Pothong River in Pothong District, Pyongyang, North Korea with the Ryugyong Hotel seen in the background, second right. The banner calls on the people... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2012 file image made from video, North Korea's Unha-3 rocket lifts off from the Sohae launching station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. North Korea's top governing body warned Thursday,... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Dec. 21, 2012 file image made from video, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks at a banquet for rocket scientists in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea's top governing body warned Thursday,... (Associated Press)
Park is strongly urging North Korea to refrain from conducting a nuclear test that could only worsen the tensions on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of a provocative long-range rocket launch in December, envoy Rhee In-je told The Associated Press and selected news outlets in Davos, Switzerland.
"President-elect Park makes it clear that North Korea's nuclear ambitions and further provocations against the South will not be tolerated," Rhee said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Thursday. "In particular, she strongly urges North Korea to refrain from further worsening the situation by conducting a third nuclear test."
But Park, who takes office next month, wants to leave the window open to constructive dialogue with Pyongyang and will continue to provide food and medical aid as part of a "trust-building" policy for the two Koreas. "It is a gradual process based on mutual trust and respect, which can begin with keeping promises," he said.
She also advocates returning to the six-nation disarmament negotiations, Rhee said. North Korea walked away from those talks in 2009 and has said future disarmament talks are out off the table.
On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to condemn North Korea's Dec. 12 rocket launch as a violation of a ban against missile activity. The council, including Pyongyang ally China, expanded sanctions against the regime.
North Korea's National Defense Commission responded Thursday by declaring that the regime is prepared to conduct a nuclear test in defiance of U.N. punishment, and it made clear that its long-range rockets are designed to carry not only satellites but also warheads aimed at striking the United States.
The commission, North Korea's top governing body led by leader Kim Jong Un, pledged to keep launching satellites and rockets and to conduct a nuclear test as part of a "new phase" of combat with the United States, which it blames for leading the U.N. bid to punish Pyongyang. It said a nuclear test was part of "upcoming" action but did not say exactly when or where it would take place.
"We do not hide that a variety of satellites and long-range rockets which will be launched by the DPRK one after another and a nuclear test of higher level which will be carried out by it in the upcoming all-out action, a new phase of the anti-U.S. struggle that has lasted century after century, will target against the U.S., the sworn enemy of the Korean people," the commission said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he has seen no outward sign that North Korea will follow through soon on its plan to conduct a test. But that doesn't mean preparations aren't taking place.
"They have the capability, frankly, to conduct these tests in a way that make it very difficult to determine whether or not they are doing it," Panetta told reporters in Washington.
North Korea claims the right to build nuclear weapons as a defense against the United States, its Korean War foe.
Their bitter three-year war ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953, and left the Korean Peninsula divided by the world's most heavily fortified demilitarized zone. The U.S. leads the U.N. Command that governs the truce and stations more than 28,000 troops in ally South Korea, a presence that North Korea cites as a key reason for its drive to build nuclear weapons.
North Korea is estimated to have stored up enough weaponized plutonium for four to eight bombs, according to scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the North's Nyongbyon nuclear complex in 2010.
In October, an unidentified spokesman at the National Defense Commission claimed that the U.S. mainland was within missile range. And at a military parade last April, North Korea showed off what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile.
In 2009, Pyongyang declared that it would begin enriching uranium, which would give North Korea a second way to make atomic weapons.
The National Defense Commission's allusion to a "higher level" nuclear test most likely refers to a device made from highly enriched uranium, said Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea. Experts say North Korea must keep testing its atomic devices so it can make them small enough to mount as nuclear warheads onto long-range missiles.
North Korea tested atomic devices in 2006 and 2009 after receiving U.N. condemnation for launching long-range rockets.
The U.S. envoy on North Korean issues, Glyn Davies, urged Pyongyang not to explode an atomic device.
"Whether North Korea tests or not, it's up to North Korea. We hope they don't do it. We call on them not to do it," he told reporters in Seoul after meeting Thursday with South Korean officials. "It will be a mistake and a missed opportunity if they were to do it."
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Thursday said North Korea's aggressive stance is unnecessary and warned against any further testing.
"North Korea's statement is needlessly provocative and a test would be a significant violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions," he said. "Further provocation would only increase Pyongyang's isolation, and its continued focus on its nuclear and missile program is doing nothing to help the North Korean people."
He said the recent U.N. resolution is a "strong message of the international community's opposition to North Korean provocations and these tightened sanctions will impede the growth of weapons of mass destruction programs in North Korea and the United States will be taking additional steps in that regard."
Carney did not elaborate on what those steps might be.
In Beijing, chief North Korea ally China urged restraint, but declined to directly criticize the North's actions.
"To maintain peninsular peace and stability and achieve denuclearization is conducive to the interests of all sides." Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Thursday.
"The situation now is sensitive and complicated. We hope all sides can stay calm, be careful what they say and do, and avoid escalating tensions," Hong said.
___
Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee in Seoul, Matthew Pennington in Washington and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report. Follow AP's Korea bureau chief at http://www.twitter.com/newsjean. | – Yesterday the US was the target of North Korean warnings; today, Pyongyang is focused on its southern neighbor, threatening to attack if South Korea backs UN sanctions against it. "If the puppet group of traitors takes a direct part in the UN 'sanctions,' the DPRK will take strong physical countermeasures against it," said the North. "'Sanctions' mean a war and a declaration of war against us." The new president-elect of South Korea, Park Geun-hye, will still seek a dialogue with Pyongyang, the AP reports—but the North's latest threats put her in a tight spot, the New York Times notes. Talks are "a gradual process based on mutual trust and respect, which can begin with keeping promises," says a rep for Park, adding that the North's "nuclear ambitions and further provocations against the South will not be tolerated." | [
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Woodbridge, VA (22192)
Today
Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 26F. Winds light and variable..
Tonight
Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 26F. Winds light and variable. ||||| Shawn Robinson was posing as a police officer when he pulled over an off-duty officer. (Photo: Prince William County Police Department)
DUMFRIES, Va. (WUSA9) -- A police impersonator tried to pull over an off-duty officer early Thursday morning, police said.
An off-duty police officer says he was driving on Benita Fitzgerald Drive in Dumfries when a man driving a Crown Victoria started to follow him. The officer says the driver turned on a spotlight that was attached to his car. Thinking it was a police officer, the off-duty officer pulled over, according to police.
The driver of the Crown Victoria pulled alongside the off-duty officer and tried to make contact, police said.
When the off-duty officer said he was a police officer, the other driver immediately sped away. The off-duty officer followed the car, and then the driver and passenger fled on foot.
Police have identified the man as Shawn Michael Robinson, 27, of Alexandria. He turned himself into police after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Robinson is being held without bond. He is due in court on March 4.
PHOTOS: DC Area Mug Shots
Read or Share this story: http://on.wusa9.com/1BzXgJb | – A man accused of impersonating a police officer had the bad luck to pull over an actual police officer, reports WUSA-TV. An off-duty cop in Dumfries, Va., says he pulled over when the Crown Vic behind him turned a spotlight on his car about 1am yesterday. When the Crown Vic pulled up alongside, the real officer identified himself as such, and the Crown Vic then sped away. The officer followed, and the driver and his passenger soon abandoned the Crown Vic and fled on foot. The car was traced to Shawn Robinson, 27, of Alexandria, who later turned himself in, reports insidenova.com. Sound familiar? Something similar happened in Florida. | [
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AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch police who found 350,000 euros ($400,000) hidden inside a washing machine have detained a man on suspicion of — what else? — money laundering.
Police said in a statement Thursday that officers were checking a house in western Amsterdam on Monday for unregistered residents when they found the valuable laundry load.
A photo displayed on the police website showed bundles of bank notes, mainly 20- and 50-euro bills, crammed into the drum.
The officers also found a money-counting machine, a gun and several cell phones.
The 24-year-old suspect's name was not released, in line with Dutch privacy rules. | – Maybe someone figured that a washing machine would be the last literal place that cops would check when sussing out a money-laundering scheme, but that someone may have placed the wrong bet. The AP and CNN report a 24-year-old man has been arrested in the Netherlands after police descended on an address in western Amsterdam during a raid seeking out unregistered residents. Inside this particular home, which municipal records showed was uninhabited, authorities found nearly $400,000, in primarily 20- and 50-euro notes, stuffed into the washing machine. The resident check was part of a probe into "housing fraud, money laundering, and other [signs] of crime," a police news release said, via CNN. Also found on site: a few cellphones, a money-counting device, and a firearm. And also the suspect, who hasn't yet been identified. (Authorities in Massachusetts found $20 million—yes, $20 million—in cash under a mattress.) | [
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Earlier this week, Snapchat introduced Snap Map, an opt-in function that allows you to share your location with your friends on a map. Snapchat’s introduction video to Snap Map, seen above, focuses on sharing the location of posted Snaps to Our Story, which is public, and could be useful for, say, seeing a collection of Snaps from a particular event.
But what Snapchat doesn’t tell you in the video, or in the app, is that if you aren’t careful, Snap Map will broadcast your exact location to anyone on your friends list every time you open the app.
When you update Snapchat and get to the Snap Map walkthrough, as seen below, only three screens need to be clicked through to complete it. Though it mentions sharing your location, it’s vague on what that exactly means. Users might not understand that Snap is posting your location on Snap Map every time you open the app. Not just when you share Snaps to Our Story.
When I first opened Snap Map, I saw the Bitmoji for one of my friends in a residential area. I presumed this was her home, and was able to zoom in close enough to estimate where she lived on that particular block. Then I called her. “This is a weird question,” I said, “but do you live at the intersection of X and Y? More particularly, one of these addresses?” I rattled off three house numbers on the street closest to where her Bitmoji appeared on Snap Map. One of them was correct. I’ve never been to her house.
Turned out, she didn’t know she had Snap Map enabled, and didn’t know it was showing her location every time she opened the app. When she updated Snap and went through the Snap Map introduction, she believed Snap was giving the option to geotag her Snaps for Our Story, as shown in the promotional video. Instead, she had inadvertently broadcast where she lived to every one of her Snap contacts.
She was understandably freaked out. “That’s so creepy!” she said. “I don’t know why anyone would use that. I understand if you’re at an event and checking in, but I wouldn’t want people to see where I am at all times.”
She had inadvertently broadcast where she lived to every one of her Snap contacts
Because Snap Map shows exactly where you are every time you open the app, there are a number of dangerous scenarios that could take place without a user even posting a Snap publicly. What if you’re at home alone, at night, and open the app to view Snaps posted by friends? What if you’re walking by yourself and get a ping that a friend sent you a Snap message, so you read it? What if you’re traveling and want to take a pic with a location-specific filter to post later on another platform? In all of these vulnerable situations, if you have Snap Map enabled, your location is immediately broadcast to some, or all of the people in your Snapchat friends list.
People have been responding to the risks Snap Map poses to children who aren’t aware of the dangers location-sharing poses, but Snap Map is a threat for teens as well, whose parents might not know about Snap Map and how it works. And it can also be dangerous for adults, as the conversation with my friend proved. Not only is the consumer-facing information for Snap Map not detailed enough, many people often agree to updates and new settings on apps without looking at the specifics.
A Snapchat representative told The Verge, “The safety of our community is very important to us and we want to make sure that all Snapchatters, parents, and educators have accurate information about how the Snap Map works.” However, the way Snap Map currently functions and is communicated to users provides opportunity for lurking, stalking, and other dangerous activities with real-life consequences.
We spoke with a Snapchat representative about the specifics of how Snap Map works. Here are details we learned that aren’t communicated through Snapchat’s video and Snap Map walkthrough:
If you are choosing to share your location on the Map, your location is updated every time the Snapchat app is opened.
If a Snapchatter chooses to share their location with all of their friends on Snapchat, the app will remind them of that choice periodically to make sure they are still comfortable with this.
Only mutual friends can see each other on the Map.
Snapchat will delete precise location data after a short period of time. (This period of time was not specified.) Some more general location data may be retained a little longer (this time was also not specified), but the company says that is also subject to regular deletion.
If you tap on your friend, you will see when their location was updated (i.e., 1 hour ago, 2 hours ago). Their location reflects where they last opened Snapchat.
A friend’s location will remain on the Map for up to 8 hours if they do not open the app again, causing their location to update. If more than 8 hours has passed and a Snapchatter has not opened the app, their location will disappear from the Map entirely.
If you want to disable Snap Map, select “Ghost Mode” upon Snapchat’s initial walkthrough. If you’ve already enabled location sharing for Snap Map, tap the settings gear in the top right while viewing the Map, and select Ghost Mode from there. ||||| We've built a whole new way to explore the world! See what's happening, find your friends, and get inspired to go on an adventure!
It's easy to get started — just pinch to zoom out and view the Map! You decide if you want to share your location with friends, or simply keep it to yourself with Ghost Mode.
If your friends are sharing their location with you, their Actionmoji will appear on the Map. Actionmojis only update when you open Snapchat.
We hope you enjoy the new Map as much as we do!
Happy Snapping!
Team Snap ||||| TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) - Snapchat introduced a new feature called "Snap Map." Some people are excited about the new feature but some parents are worried about its impact on privacy.
The new feature allows people to see where their friends are snapping from, but Snapchat says users can turn it off so that no one knows where they are. The company also said users can limit the feature so that only their friends know where they are.
"I think first and foremost parents need to be aware of it," Antony Francis with Head of Lettuce Media said.
Francis said parents should continue to have conversations with their children as technology advances and as apps add new features.
"I think they’ll like it if their kids are using it properly, if they’re restricting it just to their friends ... younger kids, there is probably no good reason for them to be using it," Francis said.
Francis said parents should ask their kids to teach them how to use it.
"It's OK to pretend that you don’t understand, even if you might understand a little bit, get them to explain it to you to make sure they understand," Francis said.
Francis said there are a number of positives with the new feature. He said you can check where people are hanging out and that may be helpful if you are new to town or are looking for something to do.
"They do have heat maps so you can see where the hot spots are," Francis said. ||||| Police forces have raised child safety concerns about a new Snapchat feature that reveals users' locations amid fears it could be used for stalking.
Parents have been warned to turn off "Snap Maps" on their children's phones after Snapchat, which is wildly popular among teenagers, introduced the location-sharing mode this week.
The feature displays a map of nearby friends, showing their latest location gathered using a smartphone's GPS sensor. Users of the app can also search for locations such as individual schools, with the app displaying public photos and videos sent by students. | – A new Snapchat geolocation function released last week may be dishing out more personal information than users were counting on. The company announced Wednesday that once activated, Snap Map places a location Bitmoji on the new map feature for anyone on a user’s friends list to see. But according to the Verge, locations update whenever the app is opened, meaning friends can track users’ whereabouts more often than they may realize. Writer Dani Deahl tested out how much information she could gather via the map by observing a friend’s Bitmoji. Within minutes, she was able to guess her friend’s address, which she hadn’t previously known. “That’s so creepy!” her friend said after Deahl called to confirm the address, adding, “I wouldn’t want people to see where I am at all times.” The map function is opt-in and users can go into a “ghost mode” to turn it off, but a social media expert told ABC 15 that parents should make sure their children understand how it all works: “It's OK to pretend that you don’t understand, even if you might understand a little bit, get them to explain it to you to make sure they understand.” Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports that police in the UK have already issued warnings to parents on the dangers of location sharing, echoed by UK Safer Internet Centre, which cautions that the new feature "can allow people to build up a picture of where you live, go to school, and spend your time.” The Verge writes that to opt out, new Snapchat users should choose ghost mode, and those who already opted in can switch to ghost mode in the map's settings to disable the location feature. | [
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(CNN) -- World reaction poured in early Monday after President Barack Obama's announcement that terror leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. The United States put its diplomatic facilities around the world on high alert and issued a global travel warning for Americans.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai
Karzai said he hopes the world believes that his country is "not the place of terrorism" after the announcement that the al Qaeda leader was killed in neighboring Pakistan.
"If the international troops/forces are true allies of the Afghans -- they should come out and say that the killing of Afghans, children and elders which took place over the many years on a daily basis was not a good idea," Karzai said on RTA TV.
Afghan opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah, Hope and Change
Bin Laden's killing proves that Pakistan is a "haven" for terror groups, according to Abdullah.
"Killing of Osama bin Laden is pleasant news for Afghans, and now it's proven that al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are not based in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a haven for them," he said.
Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa
"We have never been supporters of al Qaeda or any violence against civilians. This is a permanent and agreed upon Arab position regarding al Qaeda and any activities against civilians. And of course, our position against international terrorism is known."
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard
Gillard congratulated the U.S. on the operation, and said she acknowledges the role of Pakistan in the fight against terror.
"Our fight against terrorism does not end with bin Laden's death. We must remain vigilant against the threat posed by al Qaeda and the groups it has inspired," she said.
"We will continue our support for the counterterrorism efforts of the United States and our partners, and we will continue our efforts in Afghanistan to ensure that the country never again becomes a safe haven for terrorism."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague
"I welcome this development. I congratulate the United States on the success of the operation. Osama Bin Laden will no longer be able to bring terror and murder and mayhem to the world."
British Prime Minister David Cameron
"Osama bin Laden was responsible for the worst terrorist atrocities the world has seen -- for 9/11 and for so many attacks, which have cost thousands of lives," he said. "This is a time to remember all those murdered by Osama bin Laden, and all those who lost loved ones," he said. "It is also a time too to thank all those who work round the clock to keep us safe from terrorism."
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu
China believes "the death of Osama bin Laden is a milestone and a positive development for the international anti-terrorism efforts," Jiang said. "China believes that it is necessary to seek both a temporary solution and a permanent cure in fighting terrorism and to make great efforts to eliminate the soil on which terrorism relies to breed."
European Commission President Barroso and European Council President Van Rompuy
"Osama bin Laden was a criminal responsible for heinous terrorist attacks that cost the lives of thousands of innocent people," Barroso and Rompuy said in a joint statement. "His death makes the world a safer place and shows that such crimes do not remain unpunished."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Sarkozy said bin Laden's death was a result of a "remarkable U.S. commando" operation.
"Osama Bin Laden was a promoter of the ideology of hatred and was the chief of a terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of thousands of victims, especially in Muslim countries," he said.
"For his victims, justice has been done. Today, in France, we think of them and their families."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
"With the commando action against Osama bin Laden and his killing, the U.S. military has achieved a decisive strike against al Qaeda," she said.
"At his command and in his name, terror was enforced into many countries against men women and children, Christians as well as Muslims. Osama bin Laden suggested that he was operating in the name of Islam, but in reality he makes a mockery of the fundamental values of his own and every other religion."
Iranian Foreign Ministry The Islamic Republic of Iran hopes that the death of Osama bin Laden will put an end to war and the killing of innocent people and restore peace to their region, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
The IRNA website reports Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast reacted to news on bin Laden's killing by U.S. troops by saying, "The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that foreign countries now have no excuse for military buildup in the region to fight terrorism."
Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister for the Hamas government in Gaza
The prime minister condemned the killing, describing bin Laden as a Muslim "mujahid" or holy warrior.
Al Qaeda and the Islamist radical group Hamas have no official relationship, but the Palestinian conflict with Israel has been the subject of frequent audio messages from al Qaeda.
India's external affairs minister M. Krishnas
India applauded the killing as a "historic development and victorious milestone in the global war" against terror.
"Over the years, thousands of innocent lives of men, women and children have been tragically lost at the hands of terrorist groups," the minister said.
"The world must not let down its united effort to overcome terrorism and eliminate the safe havens and sanctuaries that have been provided to terrorists in our own neighborhood."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
"Israel joins in the joy of the American people on this historic day in which Osama bin Laden was killed. ... This is a resounding victory for justice, freedom and for the joint values of all the countries that fight side by side determinedly against terror."
Israeli President Shimon Peres
"The end of bin Laden is a great piece of news for the free world," Peres said.
"This man was a mega murderer, he killed thousands and thousands of people, people who were totally innocent, and would continue to kill, his purpose in life was to kill anybody who doesn't belong to him."
Italian foreign Minister Franco Frattini
The foreign minister said "this is a great victory for the United States and for the entire international community" in the fight against terror.
"It is a victory made possible by the determination of the United States in their hunt against the one responsible for the most tragic episode at the beginning of this century, 9/11, and numerous other tragedies," he said. "A victory that rewards the efforts that all of us next to the United States have fought and continue to fight against terrorism. A victory of good against evil, of justice against malignancy. It is a victory of the free and democratic world."
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan
Spokesman Noriyuki Shikata said the nation would continue its work with the international community to combat terrorism.
"We pay our respects to the efforts of those concerned, including the U.S. and Pakistan. We regard this as part of a united effort to fight against terrorism," Shikata said. "Japan has been working on assistance to both Pakistan and Afghanistan, and proactively tackling the issue of terrorism."
Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua
The nation, which was bombed by al Qaeda in 1998, called his killing a "defining moment in the fight against" terrorism.
"Kenya was the first country to be attacked by al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's death comes as a relief to many of the victims of the bombings in East Africa," the spokesman said.
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri
"The harm that Osama Bin Laden has inflicted to the image of Islam and the Arab causes is no less than the harm caused by enemies to the causes of Muslims and Arabs everywhere. ... Our national and Muslim history will not forgive this man. He has been, for two consecutive decades, a black mark in this history, and voluntarily poisoned the minds of thousands of youth with the culture of terrorism and killing and sabotage and destruction, and has placed Islam, which is a religion of justice and forgiveness and dialogue and good deeds, in a hostile position towards other civilizations, religions and cultures."
Muslim Council of Britian:
"Few will mourn the reported death of Osama bin Laden, least of all Muslims. Many Muslims will reflect on the 10 years that have passed in which our faith and our community have been seen through the prism of terrorism and security. The Muslim Council of Britain has consistently stood firm against terrorism and violence, and will continue to do so."
NATO
"This is a significant success for the security of NATO allies and all the nations which have joined us in our efforts to combat the scourge of global terrorism to make the world a safer place for all of us," it said in a statement. "NATO made clear that it considered the September 11 attacks on the United States an attack against all allies. We remember the thousands of innocent lives lost to terrorist atrocities in so many of our nations, in Afghanistan, and around the world."
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
"I would definitely view this as a major, indeed, mega-landmark event, marking the end of a life of a person who clearly was involved in outrageous acts of terror and destruction. It is certainly our hope that this would mark the beginning of an end of a very dark era."
Pakistan foreign ministry
The Pakistani foreign ministry issued a statement confirming the terror leader's death.
"In an intelligence driven operation, Osama bin Laden was killed in the surroundings of Abbottabad in the early hours of this morning. This operation was conducted by the U.S. forces in accordance with declared U.S. policy that Osama bin Laden will be eliminated in a direct action by the U.S. forces, wherever found in the world," the ministry said.
"Earlier today, President Obama telephoned President Zardari on the successful U.S. operation which resulted in killing of Osama bin Laden."
The ministry said the killing highlights the resolve of Pakistan and the international community to combat terrorism.
Russia
Russia said it is ready to help step up efforts to combat terror, saying only joint efforts can produce results.
"Russia was among the first countries to face the dangers inherent in global terrorism, and unfortunately knows what al Qaeda is not from hearsay," the Kremlin said. "Retribution will inevitably reach all terrorists."
Spain's ruling Socialist Party
"This is good news because it has put an end to the symbolic leader of international jihadi terrorism, the al Qaeda chief, the head of the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world."
Turkish President Abdullah Gul
"Terrorists and leaders of terrorists are captured alive or dead sooner or later," Gul said at a news conference. "It should teach a lesson that the leader of the world's most dangerous and sophisticated terrorist organization is captured this way.
Uganda government spokesman Fred Opolot
The East African nation pledged to continue its fight against terrorism. Ugandan troops are part of an African Union force helping fight the al-Shabaab -- an al Qaeda proxy -- in Somalia.
"Uganda shall continue to support the ongoing fight against global terrorism and renews its commitment to bring to justice those who commit acts of terror in the country," the spokesman said.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
The death of Osama bin Laden, announced by President [Barack] Obama last night, is a watershed moment in our common global fight against terrorism...... The crimes of Al Qaeda touched most continents, bringing tragedy and loss of life to thousands of men, women and children. ...This is a day to remember the victims and families of victims, here in the United States and everywhere in the world."
The Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi
"Osama bin Laden, as we all know, had the very grave responsibility of spreading division and hatred amongst the people, causing the death of countless of people, and of instrumentalizing religion for this end," he said. "In front of the death of man, a Christian never rejoices but rather reflects on the grave responsibility of each one in front of God and men, and hopes and commits himself so that every moment not be an occasion for hatred to grow but for peace."
Yemeni government official
A government official described the death of Osama bin Laden as "a truly historic moment."
We welcome the news ... millions of people will sleep in peace tonight," the official said. "Osama bin Laden was more of a symbolic figure, a spiritual leader for al Qaeda."
The official said it is too early to determine how his death will affect the war against terror.
"But this is definitely a strong blow to the organization," said the official, who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to talk to the media.
Embassy of the Republic of Yemen
"The government of the Republic of Yemen welcomes the elimination of Usama Bin Laden, the founding father of the al Qaeda terrorist network. The successful operation, spearheaded by U.S. forces, marks a monumental milestone in the ongoing global war against terrorism." ||||| Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh speaks to the media during a news conference in Gaza City May 2, 2011. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Monday condemned the killing by U.S. forces of Osama bin Laden and mourned him as an ''Arab holy warrior''.
RAMALLAH/GAZA The killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces was welcomed on Monday by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority while its prospective power-sharing partner, Islamist Hamas, deplored his death.
"Getting rid of bin Laden is good for the cause of peace worldwide but what counts is to overcome the discourse and the methods -- the violent methods -- that were created and encouraged by bin Laden and others in the world," Palestinian Authority (PA) spokesman Ghassan Khatib said.
Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, called bin Laden a martyr.
"We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior," Haniyeh told reporters. "We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood."
Hamas, classified by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist group over its violence against Israel, is due to sign a unity deal this week in Cairo with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement.
Israel has condemned the agreement, saying it could sabotage any efforts to revive peace talks with the Palestinians. The deal envisages an interim unity government comprised of independents and Palestinian elections later in the year.
The Fatah-led PA supports a negotiated peace with Israel to obtain a state in territories the Jewish state captured in a 1967 war. Hamas is officially sworn to Israel's destruction.
Abbas has defended reconciliation with Hamas, saying it reflected a deep-seated Palestinian desire to close a rift with the group that seized Gaza from Fatah forces in 2007.
The United States has responded coolly to the unity pact.
MIXED MESSAGES
In the West Bank city of Ramallah, the PA's view on the death of the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks was shared by Ahmed Saleh, a 58-year-old retiree.
"The world is better without bin Laden. This has removed a pillar of evil from the world," he said. "His heinous actions were exploited to allow hostile policies toward the Arabs and Muslims."
But Umm Mohammed, a veiled woman, said she hoped news of bin Laden's death was a lie. "God willing, he will continue to conquer the West," she said.
Palestinians hit the headlines after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, carried out by al Qaeda, when a small group were filmed celebrating in East Jerusalem.
At the time, there were bigger demonstrations in the Gaza Strip in support of the attacks. Palestinians partly blame their national plight on generations of U.S. support for Israel.
But late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat banned such public displays and voiced sympathy for the dead in the United States.
In Gaza, Hamas now faces a challenge from al Qaeda-inspired groups that consider it to be too moderate. One such group was behind last month's killing of a pro-Palestinian Italian activist in the territory.
Abdel-Qader Abu Shaaban, a 53-year-old Palestinian from Gaza, described bin Laden's killing as "a very criminal act."
"This is not a victory. If they assassinated bin Laden, there will be others stronger than him: politicians and military people," he said. ||||| Reaction to Osama bin Laden’s killing was mixed in the Muslim world, including in Pakistan, where former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said that the United States should not have executed a mission within his country’s borders.
“America coming to our territory and taking action is a violation of our sovereignty,” Musharraf told CNN-IBN. “Handling and execution of the operation [by U.S. forces] is not correct. The Pakistani government should have been kept in the loop.”
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reset POLITICO 44
Though President Barack Obama did refer to Pakistani help in his remarks Sunday night, there was no mention of involvement in Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s statement, which said that Zadari was notified of bin Laden’s killing with a phone call from Obama.
In a statement, the Pakistani foreign ministry celebrated bin Laden’s death as “a major setback to terrorist organizations around the world.”
Over the border in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai on Monday urged the Taliban not to seek retaliation.
“We call on Taliban to learn from what happened yesterday and stop fighting,” Karzai said in a televised statement, AFP reported. “Talib, come to your country and stop the fighting and leave the weapon that the foreigners have put on your shoulders.”
In Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that the United States has “no excuse” for continuing its military involvement in the Middle East now that bin Laden has been killed. “We hope that this development will end war, conflict, unrest and the death of innocent people, and help to establish peace and tranquility in the region,” he said in a statement quoted by Iran’s English-language Press TV.
The leader of the Palestinian terror group Hamas condemned bin Laden’s killing as the assassination of “a Muslim and Arabic warrior,” The Associated Press reported. Bin Laden’s death, said Ismail Haniyeh, is “the continuation of the American oppression and shedding of blood of Muslims and Arabs.”
The more moderate Palestinian Authority took an alternate view. “Getting rid of bin Laden is good for the cause of peace worldwide but what counts is to overcome the discourse and the methods — the violent methods — that were created and encouraged by bin Laden and others in the world,” spokesman Ghassan Khatib said, according to a Reuters report.
While Hamas and other radical groups and individuals spoke out against the killing of bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader’s image in the Muslim world has been in decline in the last few years, a Pew Research Group survey released Monday shows.
Support for bin Laden was most widespread in Palestinian territories, where 34 percent of those surveyed said they had confidence in him, down from 52 percent in 2009 and 72 percent in 2003. In Egypt, 22 percent of Egyptians surveyed this year said they have confidence in bin Laden, down from 27 percent in 2005.
Confidence in the Al Qaeda leader was never high in Turkey or in Lebanon — in 2003, his positives were 15 percent and 19 percent, respectively — but his numbers have fallen further since. In Turkey, three percent of those surveyed this year said they have confidence in bin Laden, while just one percent of those surveyed in Turkey said the same.
And in Pakistan, where bin Laden was killed, support for him has dropped from 46 percent in 2003 to 18 percent in 2010. | – Reaction to Osama bin Laden's death is pouring in from around the world—and not everybody's cheering, Reuters reports: Hamas: “We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior,” said Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s leader in the Gaza Strip. “We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood.” Pervez Musharraf: Pakistan’s former president said the US had violated “our sovereignty” by carrying out the mission, Politico reports. “The Pakistani government should have been kept in the loop.” Still, the country’s foreign ministry applauded the killing. The Vatican: "In front of the death of man, a Christian never rejoices but rather reflects on the grave responsibility of each one in front of God and men," said a spokesman, according to CNN. He did acknowledge that bin Laden spread "division and hatred." Civilians in Ramallah, in the West Bank, offered mixed views. One woman hoped the news was false: “God willing, he will continue to conquer the West,” she said. Another Palestinian called the killing “a very criminal act.” But others approved: “His heinous actions were exploited to allow hostile policies toward the Arabs and Muslims,” one says. | [
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A look back at some of Barbara Walters' memorable interviews since she joined ABC in 1976. Walters is shown here interviewing Barbra Streisand on Dec. 14, 1976 for the first installment of "The Barbara Walters Special" on ABC. ABC Photo Archives
Barbara Walters is shown here talking with Cuban President Fidel Castro as they cross the Bay of Pigs. The interview aired on June 9, 1977 in an ABC News special. ABC Photo Archives
Barbara Walters interviewed Lucille Ball and her husband, Gary Morton, for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired Dec. 6, 1977 on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali and his wife, Veronica Porche Ali, introduced their daughters Hana (standing) and Laila to Barbara Walters on "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired May 30, 1978 on ABC. ABC Photo Archives
Barbara Walters interviewed actor John Wayne for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired March 13, 1979 on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters interviewed Anwar Sadat at the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C., on March 26, 1979 after the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Agreement. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters talked with Fred Astaire about his career, his show business debut at the age of 5 with his sister Adele, and his dancing partner Ginger Rogers for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired Feb. 27, 1980 on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Barbara Walters provided election night results for the 1980 presidential race between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from the ABC News desk, Nov. 4, 1980. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters interviewed Beatles drummer Ringo Starr on Oscar night 1981 for "The Barbara Walters Oscar Special," which aired March 31, 1981 on ABC. Ken Bank/ABC
Barbara Walters interviewed Katherine Hepburn for ABC News' "20/20," which aired June 2, 1981 on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters is shown here interviewing country music legend and activist Willie Nelson on June 15, 1982 for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired on ABC. ABC Photo Archives
Barbara Walters interviewed Walter Cronkite and his wife on their boat in Martha's Vineyard for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired Dec. 6, 1983 on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters interviewed Muammar Gadhafi outside his tent in Tripoli, Libya, for ABC News' "20/20," which aired on Jan. 27, 1989. ABC Photo Archive
Jay Leno showed Barbara Walters his collection of vintage cars during an interview on Sept. 26, 1989, for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters interviewed Whoopi Goldberg at her Los Angeles home in 1991 for an Oscar night special. At the time, Goldberg had been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Ghost." She would go on to win the Oscar. Craig Sjodin/ABC
In 1997, Michael Jackson spoke to Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview about the controversial paparazzi, his experiences with the tabloid press and what it meant to him to be under such intense scrutiny. Steve Fenn/ABC
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, whose explicit sexual affair with President Bill Clinton resulted in Clinton's impeachment, broke her longtime silence to talk with Barbara Walters on ABC News' "20/20." The interview aired on March 4, 1999, and remains one of the most-watched TV news interviews ever. ABC Photo Archive
On Oscar night in 2000, Barbara Walters talked with Arnold Schwarzenegger about his career, politics, his then-wife Maria Shriver, and the couple's new baby, for "The Barbara Walters Oscar Special," which aired on ABC. Craig Sjodin
Barbara Walters interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin for ABC News' "20/20," which aired Nov. 7, 2001. It marked the first time President Putin was interviewed by an American journalist since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters spoke to "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve at his upstate New York home on Sept. 7, 2002 for an interview that aired on ABC. Walters interviewed Reeve several times after he was paralyzed in a 1995 horseback riding accident. Reeve died in 2004. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters named Tom Cruise the Most Fascinating Person of 2005 in the ABC News special, "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2005." In the interview, Cruise said he had no regrets about his much-publicized couch-jumping incident on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters sat down with Vogue magazine's Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour at the magazine's headquarters in New York City, Dec. 12, 2006, for the ABC News special, "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006." <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2716887&page=3"><b>Read more about the interview HERE.</b></a> ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters interviewed controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on March 10, 2007. It was the first time Chavez had been interviewed by an American television journalist since he called President George W. Bush "the devil" in a 2006 speech before the U.N. General Assembly. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/03/reporters-notebook-barbara-walters-rare-interview-with-hugo-chavez/"><b>Read more about the interview HERE.</b></a> ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters sat down with Oprah Winfrey, as she transitioned from her daytime talk show to her own cable TV network, for a one-hour ABC News special that aired in November 2010 on ABC. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/oprah-winfrey-relationship-gayle-king-im-lesbian/story?id=12334032"><b>Read more about the interview HERE.</b></a> George Burns/Harpo Productions
Barbara Walters interviewed teen sensation Justin Bieber backstage at the Izod Arena in New Jersey for the ABC News special, "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2010." He was 16 years old at the time. Lou Rocco/ABC
Barbara Walters interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, his first interview with an American journalist since the uprising in Syria began almost a year prior. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/bashar-al-assad-interview-defiant-syrian-president-denies/story?id=15098612"><b>Read more about the interview HERE.</b></a> ABC News/Rob Wallace
Barbara Walters poses for a picture with Kermit the Frog and Ms. Piggy for the "Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of All Time", which aired as a special edition of ABC News' "20/20" in 2012 on ABC, in conjunction with ABC's broadcast of the Emmy Awards. Donna Svennevik/ABC
Barbara Walters interviewed Miley Cyrus for "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2013." In the interview, Cyrus talked about some of her fears and insecurities, and ending her engagement to Liam Hemsworth. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/miley-cyrus-life-liam-hemsworth-21272146"><b>Watch the interview HERE.</b></a> Heidi Gutman/ABC
Barbara Walters sat down Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s confidante V. Stiviano for an exclusive interview, May 2, 2014. It was Stiviano's first TV interview since the NBA handed Sterling a lifetime ban and a $2.5 million fine for his racial remarks featured in a leaked audiotape recording. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/barbara-walters-interviews-stiviano-abc-news-exclusive/story?id=23569035"><b>Read more about the interview HERE.</b></a> Matt Petit/ABC ||||| Syrian President Bashar al-Assad defiantly denied any suggestion that he has ordered a bloody crackdown against protesters who are demanding that he resign, and claims instead that most of the people who died in the unrest were his supporters and troops.
Assad, whose regime has been condemned by the West, the Arab League and former allies, dismissed suggestions that he step down and scoffed at sanctions being imposed on Syria.
Watch Barbara Walters' interview with President Bashar al-Assad on Newsmakers at Yahoo! News
His defiant stance was on display in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters who confronted the Syrian dictator in Damascus with stories and evidence of civilians being tortured and killed, some of them children.
"People went from house to house. Children were arrested. I saw those pictures," Walters said to Assad.
"To be frank with you, Barbara, you don't live here. How did you know all this...? This...you have to be here to see," Assad said.
Walters asked Assad about the case of Hamza al-Khateeb, a 13-year-old boy detained by Syrian forces after a protest whose lifeless body was returned to his parents shot, burned and castrated. The boy's death galvanized protesters, and photos on the internet inflamed world opinion.
Assad Tells Barbara Walters Violence Is By Terrorists, Not His Troops Assad denied the boy had been tortured. "No, no, no. It's not news," he insisted. "I met with his father, the father of that child and he said that he wasn't tortured as he appeared in the media."
The tide of pro-democracy protests sweeping the Arab world reached Syria in mid-March and news of violent clashes between protesters and government agents have leaked out of this tightly controlled dictatorship and on to the Internet. The bodies of the dead, some of them children, have been found bearing the marks of torture.
According to a United Nations report released last week, more than 4,000 people have been killed and the country is embroiled in an undeclared civil war, an assessment Assad dismissed with the question, "Who said that the United Nations is a credible institution?"
In an unprecedented condemnation of a fellow Muslim nation, the Arab League recently imposed sanctions, and last month one-time ally Turkey called on Assad to resign the presidency, an office he's held since 2000.
In his interview with Walters, his first sit down with an American journalist since the protests began, Assad denied he ordered a crackdown and blamed the violence on criminals, religious extremists and terrorists sympathetic to al Qaeda he claims are mixed in with peaceful demonstrators.
He said the victims of the street violence were not civilians protesters battling decades of one-party rule, he insisted.
"Most of the people that have been killed are supporters of the government, not the vice versa," he said. The dead have included 1,100 soldiers and police, he said.
Assad conceded only that some members of his armed forces went too far, but claims they were punished for their actions.
"Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know," he said. "There is a difference between having a policy to crackdown and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference," said Assad.
"But you have to give the order," countered Walters.
"We don't kill our people… no government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person," Assad said.
At another point he said, "There was no command to kill or be brutal."
Syria's Assad Scoff as Threat of Sanctions
In an echo of recently deposed Arab strongmen, Assad said he was introducing reforms and elections, starting with local elections this year. The vote on his presidency isn't scheduled until 2014, a wait that may be too long for Syrian dissidents. But the elections can't be rushed, Assad said.
"We never said we are democratic country… We are moving forward in reforms, especially in the last nine months… It takes a long time, it takes a lot of maturity to be full fledged democracy."
Assad said the threat of sanctions did not worry him. "We've been under sanctions for the last 30, 35 years. It's not something new."
Despite the decades of economic sanctions, "We're not isolated. You have people coming and going, you have trade, you have everything," he said.
Walters asked Assad if he regretted the violence that has wracked his country, left thousands dead and make Syria a pariah state.
"I did my best to protect the people," he said. "I cannot feel guilty when you do your best. You feel sorry for the lives that have been lost. But you don't feel guilty when you don't kill people. So it's not about guilty."
(Editor's note: Due to a transcription error, the initial version of this story misstated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad quote in response to Barbara Walters question about Syrian forces allegedly going from house to house, arresting children. His actual quote was: "To be frank with you, Barbara, you don't live here. How did you know all this...? This...you have to be here to see.") ||||| Seventeen years after she changed daytime television forever with a newfangled talk show called The View, Barbara Walters is ending her storied career with an emotional goodbye on Friday. The TV news icon, who will remain as an executive producer of the daytime chatfest and will return to ABC News sporadically, has a special fondness for the show she launched back in 1994.
[Related: Ranking the 11 Ladies of 'The View' From Least to Most Memorable]
"It's a program that I created with great pride that's lasted longer than most shows on TV," Walters told TV Guide. And while she noted that in her 50-year television career she was never able to book a pope or Queen Elizabeth, she has interviewed just about everybody else. And many of those interviews took place on The View.
Here's a look back at some of Walters's most memorable interviews on The View:
The Time She Made a Future President Blush
President Barack Obama has appeared on The View several times (his joint appearance with the First Lady was a major "get" for Walters's daytime show), but one of his earliest pit stops on the show — when he was still a senator — had Walters gushing over his good looks. When Obama revealed that Brad Pitt is his very distant cousin but said the actor "got the better-looking side of the gene pool," Walters chimed in with, "Maybe we shouldn't say this, but we thought you were very sexy-looking!"
Parenting With a Pop Icon
It's not every day that the Material Girl stops by a daytime talk show, but in 2005, Madonna was a guest on The View, where she talked about everything from pop culture to parenting. But Walters called the singer out on one key point: "You've contributed more to pop culture than probably any one person, but you don't let your kids watch television. You say it's poison. Here you are on television!" she said. Madge explained that she grew up in a TV-free home and was concerned that television is "very seductive and very mesmerizing." "I would prefer to encourage them to use other parts of their brain," she said.
Doubting Thomas?
Walters has no problem talking religion. When she interviewed "Angels & Demons" star Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard, she asked the question point-blank: "Do you believe in an afterlife?" Hanks gave a long-winded answer about atoms, while Howard said, "I suspect there's something. I don't exactly know what … I can't imagine that there's not another dimension."
Livin' La Vida Barbara
Ten years after she aggressively (and, by her own admission, inappropriately) questioned Ricky Martin's sexuality in a TV interview, Walters interviewed him again on The View. When the TV news veteran asked the singer about the "darker period in his life," Martin corrected her: "Darker period? Barbara, I'm gonna call it a period of enlightenment. Let's call it that way, because it makes me feel better." The singer dished that everything changed when he decided to become a father to twin boys.
From Bullied to "Born This Way"
In 2011, Lady Gaga stopped by The View dressed all in black and wearing bizarre platform heels, telling Walters, "Well this is just the way I am. I was born this way." The pop superstar also revealed that when she was in school, she wanted to "wear a mask all the time" because she got bullied. "Getting picked on in school, it sticks with you for life," she said. "I don't think I realized how deeply it affected me until I started to become successful."
And here are a few of Walters's "View" interviews that didn't go so well:
A Guest Gets Grilled
In 2012, the news legend's interview with alleged John F. Kennedy mistress Mimi Alford took a tacky turn when she shamed the new author for writing a book about her tryst with the president more than 50 years after his death. Walters's condescending intro ("She'll make a lot of money!") and incessant prediction that Alford would "sell a lot of books" wasn't exactly welcoming. The View creator also asked Alford if she had given any thought to how her allegations would hurt JFK's daughter Caroline Kennedy, and even insinuated she could have saved Monica Lewinsky major pain if she'd told her story sooner.
A Former Church Secretary Speaks — Out of Turn
Speaking of affairs, in 2011, "View" guest Jessica Hahn gave Walters a dose of her own medicine when she was grilled about her scandalous relationship with married TV evangelist Jim Bakker. The former church secretary pointed out that Walters wrote about her own affair with married Sen. Edward Brooke in her book "Audition." Walters fired back with, "This is about you, my dear, this is not about me," then kept quiet for most of the interview after that. ||||| A look back at some of Barbara Walters' memorable interviews since she joined ABC in 1976. Walters is shown here interviewing Barbra Streisand on Dec. 14, 1976 for the first installment of "The Barbara Walters Special" on ABC. ABC Photo Archives
Barbara Walters is shown here talking with Cuban President Fidel Castro as they cross the Bay of Pigs. The interview aired on June 9, 1977 in an ABC News special. ABC Photo Archives
Barbara Walters interviewed Lucille Ball and her husband, Gary Morton, for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired Dec. 6, 1977 on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali and his wife, Veronica Porche Ali, introduced their daughters Hana (standing) and Laila to Barbara Walters on "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired May 30, 1978 on ABC. ABC Photo Archives
Barbara Walters interviewed actor John Wayne for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired March 13, 1979 on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters interviewed Anwar Sadat at the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C., on March 26, 1979 after the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Agreement. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters talked with Fred Astaire about his career, his show business debut at the age of 5 with his sister Adele, and his dancing partner Ginger Rogers for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired Feb. 27, 1980 on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Barbara Walters provided election night results for the 1980 presidential race between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from the ABC News desk, Nov. 4, 1980. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters interviewed Beatles drummer Ringo Starr on Oscar night 1981 for "The Barbara Walters Oscar Special," which aired March 31, 1981 on ABC. Ken Bank/ABC
Barbara Walters interviewed Katherine Hepburn for ABC News' "20/20," which aired June 2, 1981 on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters is shown here interviewing country music legend and activist Willie Nelson on June 15, 1982 for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired on ABC. ABC Photo Archives
Barbara Walters interviewed Walter Cronkite and his wife on their boat in Martha's Vineyard for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired Dec. 6, 1983 on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters interviewed Muammar Gadhafi outside his tent in Tripoli, Libya, for ABC News' "20/20," which aired on Jan. 27, 1989. ABC Photo Archive
Jay Leno showed Barbara Walters his collection of vintage cars during an interview on Sept. 26, 1989, for "The Barbara Walters Special," which aired on ABC. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters interviewed Whoopi Goldberg at her Los Angeles home in 1991 for an Oscar night special. At the time, Goldberg had been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Ghost." She would go on to win the Oscar. Craig Sjodin/ABC
In 1997, Michael Jackson spoke to Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview about the controversial paparazzi, his experiences with the tabloid press and what it meant to him to be under such intense scrutiny. Steve Fenn/ABC
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, whose explicit sexual affair with President Bill Clinton resulted in Clinton's impeachment, broke her longtime silence to talk with Barbara Walters on ABC News' "20/20." The interview aired on March 4, 1999, and remains one of the most-watched TV news interviews ever. ABC Photo Archive
On Oscar night in 2000, Barbara Walters talked with Arnold Schwarzenegger about his career, politics, his then-wife Maria Shriver, and the couple's new baby, for "The Barbara Walters Oscar Special," which aired on ABC. Craig Sjodin
Barbara Walters interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin for ABC News' "20/20," which aired Nov. 7, 2001. It marked the first time President Putin was interviewed by an American journalist since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters spoke to "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve at his upstate New York home on Sept. 7, 2002 for an interview that aired on ABC. Walters interviewed Reeve several times after he was paralyzed in a 1995 horseback riding accident. Reeve died in 2004. ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters named Tom Cruise the Most Fascinating Person of 2005 in the ABC News special, "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2005." In the interview, Cruise said he had no regrets about his much-publicized couch-jumping incident on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters sat down with Vogue magazine's Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour at the magazine's headquarters in New York City, Dec. 12, 2006, for the ABC News special, "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006." <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2716887&page=3"><b>Read more about the interview HERE.</b></a> ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters interviewed controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on March 10, 2007. It was the first time Chavez had been interviewed by an American television journalist since he called President George W. Bush "the devil" in a 2006 speech before the U.N. General Assembly. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/03/reporters-notebook-barbara-walters-rare-interview-with-hugo-chavez/"><b>Read more about the interview HERE.</b></a> ABC Photo Archive
Barbara Walters sat down with Oprah Winfrey, as she transitioned from her daytime talk show to her own cable TV network, for a one-hour ABC News special that aired in November 2010 on ABC. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/oprah-winfrey-relationship-gayle-king-im-lesbian/story?id=12334032"><b>Read more about the interview HERE.</b></a> George Burns/Harpo Productions
Barbara Walters interviewed teen sensation Justin Bieber backstage at the Izod Arena in New Jersey for the ABC News special, "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2010." He was 16 years old at the time. Lou Rocco/ABC
Barbara Walters interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, his first interview with an American journalist since the uprising in Syria began almost a year prior. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/bashar-al-assad-interview-defiant-syrian-president-denies/story?id=15098612"><b>Read more about the interview HERE.</b></a> ABC News/Rob Wallace
Barbara Walters poses for a picture with Kermit the Frog and Ms. Piggy for the "Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of All Time", which aired as a special edition of ABC News' "20/20" in 2012 on ABC, in conjunction with ABC's broadcast of the Emmy Awards. Donna Svennevik/ABC
Barbara Walters interviewed Miley Cyrus for "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2013." In the interview, Cyrus talked about some of her fears and insecurities, and ending her engagement to Liam Hemsworth. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/miley-cyrus-life-liam-hemsworth-21272146"><b>Watch the interview HERE.</b></a> Heidi Gutman/ABC
Barbara Walters sat down Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s confidante V. Stiviano for an exclusive interview, May 2, 2014. It was Stiviano's first TV interview since the NBA handed Sterling a lifetime ban and a $2.5 million fine for his racial remarks featured in a leaked audiotape recording. <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/barbara-walters-interviews-stiviano-abc-news-exclusive/story?id=23569035"><b>Read more about the interview HERE.</b></a> Matt Petit/ABC | – When Barbara Walters signs off from The View today, it will mark her farewell to television—at least as a regular—after a 50-year career. For a woman who started out hawking dog food on camera to one that reeled in the most viewers of any single news program ever (that would be the almost 50 million who watched her interview Monica Lewinsky in 1999), her career has been a long and remarkable one. As the New York Times puts it, "it's hard to imagine a single newscaster again holding so much sway over the culture"—which shows both Walters' pull as well as the changing media landscape. It may be goodbye, but we'll always have the interviews. Here are five of her more notable ones, courtesy of ABC News. Monica Lewinsky: The former White House intern broke her silence on her affair with President Bill Clinton in an interview that aired March 4, 1999. Fidel Castro: In an interview that aired June 9, 1977, Walters talked to Cuban President Fidel Castro as the pair crossed the Bay of Pigs. Vladimir Putin: Walters sat down with Putin in an interview airing November 7, 2001, marking the Russian president's first chat with an American journalist since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Tom Cruise: Everyone remembers Cruise's couch-jumping on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but he explained his bizarre behavior to Walters in 2005; he said he had no regrets. Bashar al-Assad: In 2011 Walters nabbed the Syrian president's first interview with a US journalist after the Syrian uprising began, in which he denied ordering a deadly crackdown on protesters. Click here for more of her best interviews ... or here for some of her worst. | [
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Crawl performed by Internet Archive. This data is currently not publicly accessible. ||||| WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Two top financial regulators said Tuesday they aren't sure yet what caused the stock market's dizzying May 6 plunge and partial recovery, but they don't believe any one event created it.
At issue is the Dow Jones Industrial Average drop of nearly 1,000 points last Thursday - a fall of roughly $1 trillion in market value -- much of it in a matter of minutes, before recovering to a 348-point loss for the session.
Both Mary Schapiro, Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman, and Gary Gensler, Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman, refuted speculation that a trader might have made a so-called "fat finger" error that contributed to the stock market plunge.
"Neither our review nor reviews by the relevant exchanges and market participants have uncovered such an error [fat-finger] trade," said Schapiro at a Capitol Hill hearing on the stock plunge and a subsequent investigations into the matter by the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The two agencies plan to provide preliminary findings on what caused the stock plunge next week.
Some observers have speculated that a "fat finger" error may have taken place, in which a trader enters an order for billions of shares rather than an intended order for millions. Gensler also said Tuesday in testimony that the agency's staff review "produced no evidence" indicating that a "fat finger" was the catalyst.
The SEC and the CFTC have reached a preliminary agreement with securities exchanges to create a unified stock-by-stock circuit breaker for all exchanges -- including electronic exchanges -- to halt trades or slow down the pace of trading during a massive market downturn, according to people familiar with the discussions. Read about preliminary agreement.
"With our children, we tell them to take a time-out when they act up," said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala. "I think we are establishing a procedure similar to that with our markets when they do lapse into what happened last Thursday."
Both Schapiro and Gensler argued they have enough statutory authority to create circuit breakers across-the-board for exchanges. However, Gensler said legislation under consideration on Capitol Hill that would bring the over-the-counter derivatives market out of the dark onto transparent clearinghouses and exchanges would make it easier for the CFTC and SEC to determine the cause of future plunges.
"The reform [Congress] is moving in with the over-the-counter derivatives market will give us a greater understanding," Gensler said. "This review will enable us to have information about equities and futures market but not the over-the-counter derivatives market which may have played a role as well."
What didn't cause the plunge?
Schapiro refuted speculation that an exceptionally large order in shares of Procter & Gamble Co. /quotes/zigman/238894/delayed/quotes/nls/pg PG -0.34% , part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/zigman/627449/realtime DJIA -0.28% , helped trigger the market decline. She also rebutted assertions on Wall Street that the drop may have been caused by hackers or terrorist activities.
"We have not identified any info consistent with computer hacker or terrorist activity," Schapiro said.
Lawmakers also squabbled over whether high frequency trading contributed to the market plunge. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., indicated he might support a minute tax on high frequency trades in the U.S. to limit their activities in the U.S.
"If most of the U.S. markets were insulated from high frequency trading, that's where most investors would want to go," Sherman said. | – Those hoping for a simple answer to what caused last week's stock market collapse—a typo caused by a so-called "fat finger" trading error, for instance, or maybe a malicious hacker—will be disappointed with the testimony of federal regulators today on Capitol Hill. While they simply don't know yet what caused the freefall, they're pretty sure it wasn't triggered by any single event such as those, reports MarketWatch. The SEC's Mary Schapiro and commodities trading chief Gary Gensler promised to provide preliminary—emphasis on the preliminary—findings next week. Schapiro said SEC investigators have issued supboenas, though she didn't say to whom. One area of possible inquiry, notes Bloomberg: Traders who tried to take advantage of the chaos by purposely driving down stocks. Regulators also are looking at activity in something called the S&P 500 E-Mini futures contract, which the New York Times describes as "by far the largest stock index futures contract"—and sounds infinitely more complicated than fat fingers. | [
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Thanks to favorable weather conditions, below-average snow levels and assistance from the Wyoming Department of Transportation, Yellowstone National Park will open the roads from West Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful on Friday.
Budget cuts because of sequestration had pushed the opening day back to April 26 this spring as the park delayed its snow plowing work to save money. But that delay is no longer necessary.
The roads from West Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful will open at 8 a.m. on Friday.
Weather permitting, the road from Norris Junction through Canyon and Fishing Bridge to the park’s East Entrance will open to travel on May 3. Travel through the South Entrance to Grant Village, West Thumb Junction and on to Fishing Bridge is set to open May 10. The road from West Thumb Junction to Old Faithful will open sometime after May 10.
Restroom facilities will be available at Madison Junction and Old Faithful starting April 19, with pay-at-the-pump fuel available 24 hours a day at the upper and lower service stations.
The Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, the Geyser Grill and the Bear Den Gift Shop will open for the season on April 26. The Old Faithful Snow Lodge, Cabins and Restaurant, the Old Faithful Upper Store and the Lower Service Station convenience store all open for the season on May 3.
Park entrance fees will be waived April 22-26 as part of National Park Week. A seven-day pass to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks is normally $25 for a private, noncommercial vehicle.
Information on current conditions in the park is available online at http://www.nps.gov/yell/conditions.htm. Updated Yellowstone National Park road information is available 24 hours a day by calling 307-344-2117. ||||| Yellowstone National Park's Old Faithful erupting a column of steam and superhot water.
CREDIT: Dreamstime
View full size image
Old Faithful's underground plumbing looks more like a bagpipe than a flute, a new study of the Yellowstone National Park geyser finds.
A big chamber sits about 50 feet (15 meters) underground, located southwest of Old Faithful, researchers report in a study published online March 30 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The exact size can't be determined, but they estimate the egg-shaped void is at least 50 feet (15 m) tall and 60 feet (18 m) wide. The cavern connects to a pipe angled about 24 degrees that feeds Old Faithful's maw.
Tiny tremors extracted from seismic records collected in the 1990s revealed the shape of the cavern and geyser conduit. Popping gas bubbles create the tremors. Not only do the tremors map the shape of underground spaces, they can also track water. For the first time, scientists have a clear view of how Old Faithful works underground.
"We're able to locate with one- to two-meter precision the place where the boiling occurs," said Jean Vandemeulebrouck, a geophysicist at the University of Savoie in France. "We can see the water rising in the conduit."
How Old Faithful works
Old Faithful earned its name for its regular eruptions, which average every 92 minutes.
Just after an eruption, there's a 15-minute recharge period with low water levels. Then for about 50 minutes, water levels rise and seismic activity increases. The chamber never empties, but as steam bubbles fill the chamber, they can oscillate water in the conduit, eventually leading to a violent steam explosion. The bubble trap is what helps Old Faithful splash with smaller eruptions before fully blowing its top.
The research is another nail in the coffin for the long-standing idea that big geysers erupt from long, narrow tubes. Earlier this year, researchers working in Kamchatka's Valley of the Geysers showed the Russian geysers also erupted from conduits fed by caverns. As with Old Faithful, the geysers explode because of underground bubble traps.
Geysers are rare features — only about 1,000 exist around the world. To form a geyser, there must abundant groundwater, a volcanic heat source to warm the water, open spaces so the water can escape and a way to trap bubbles.
Vandemeulebrouck is now collaborating with the U.S. Geological Survey to study another Yellowstone National Park geyser, called Lone Star. Their preliminary results are similar to Old Faithful, he said. [Video: A Scenic Tour of Yellowstone National Park]
"I think this oscillating system is quite common in geysers," Vandemeulebrouck told OurAmazingPlanet.
Email Becky Oskin or follow her @beckyoskin. Follow us @OAPlanet, Facebook or Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet. | – Mystery solved: Scientists say they've finally figured out why Old Faithful erupts with super-hot water and steam about every 90 minutes, Our Amazing Planet reports. Seismic records show that under the Yellowstone geyser, a large egg-shaped chamber is connected to the mouth of Old Faithful by a sort of pipe. After every eruption, water levels rise in the chamber and send steam bubbles into the conduit—which creates a "bubble trap" that leads to the eventual steam explosion. What's the big deal? The finding helps discredit an old idea that large geysers are fed by long, narrow tubes (Our Amazing Planet describes Old Faithful's "plumbing [as] more like a bagpipe than a flute"). Researchers made a similar finding earlier this year in Russia, where geysers are also fed by caverns that create bubble traps. Another neat fact: Scientists were able to map Old Faithful's cavern with seismic records because gas bubbles create tremors when they pop. And there's good news for those eager to visit it: Sequestration forced the park to postpone its annual snow-plowing efforts, pushing the opening date to April 26; but the Billings Gazette reports that the road to Old Faithful opened Friday, due to a happy combination of good weather, less snow than expected, and help from the state's Department of Transportation. | [
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] |
By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms, Data Policy and Cookies Policy. You may receive SMS Notifications from us and can opt out any time. ||||| JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater emerges from jail, basks in new status as celebrity
Heckman for News JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater after being released from jail in the Bronx on Tuesday night.
If you were on JetBlue Flight 1052, or if you know the passenger who fought with the feisty flight attendant, we'd love to hear from you. Email rschapiro@nydailynews.com.
Fired-up flight attendant Steven Slater was walking on air as he emerged from jail Tuesday night as a folk hero.
"I knew there was a brouhaha about this, but while I was on the inside I didn't realize how much attention it got," said Slater, wearing the same T-shirt and plaid shorts he had on when arrested a day earlier.
"I think something about this resonated with people. The outpouring of support is very appreciated. I'm overwhelmed, very thankful," Slater said after being released from the Vernon C. Bain Center in Hunts Point, the Bronx, after posting $2,500 bail.
Slater, 38, was transformed into a folk hero after he cursed out a nasty passenger over a plane intercom, grabbed some beer and fled down an emergency slide at Kennedy Airport Sunday.
"It's been a good time," a beaming Slater said, as employees leaving the lockup shouted, "You're a hero" and "You're a celebrity."
Relishing in his cult status, Slater even joked about his short stay in the slammer. "I feel tired, I feel about how I did when that suitcase fell on me."Then he pointed to cuts and bruises on his forehead that he called "aviation-related."
But Slater's flight to freedom hit a little turbulence. Freaked out by the media horde following his livery car, Slater's driver returned him to the jail after a 10-minute ride.
"The food was just too good," Slater deadpanned about why he returned.
A lot of people agree that Slater didn't commit a crime, and that includes his mother, his lawyer - and about half the world.
"I can understand why he snapped. I would have snapped, too," Diane Slater said Tuesday after her son pleaded not guilty to criminal charges.
"I think he just had a very small meltdown, and I think he deserved to be able to have that meltdown."
And she isn't the only one.
"I lost patience after a female passenger had an argument with another passenger and then opened the bin door, hitting me on the head without apologizing," Slater told cops.
In his announcement to passengers on the flight out of Pittsburgh, Slater referred to the woman as "the f-----g a--hole that told me to f--k off."
He then declared, "I've had it. That's it," witnesses said.
Slater's Legal Aid lawyer, Howard Turman, said his client was trying to defuse a testy situation when the passenger, who has not been identified, started giving him hell after the plane landed.
"He was trying to do his best in providing safety and you have rudeness and lack of courtesy among the traveling public," Turman said.
"The woman was outraged and cursed him out a great deal. At that point, I think, he just wanted to avoid conflict with her."
Through his lawyer, Slater pleaded not guilty to criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing charges.
Authorities said Slater endangered jetBlue employees under the aircraft when he activated the emergency slide, which costs more than $25,000 to replace.
JetBlue suspended Slater even as Facebook fans began raising money for his legal defense and demanding he get his job back.
He has quickly become a global sensation. MySpace photos of him posing on planes - one with a Bud Light in his hand - hit the Internet. His ex-wife, married to him in the '90s, also came out of the woodwork.
In the leafy Thousand Oaks, Calif., neighborhood where Slater grew up and his mother still lives, neighbors were shocked by his newfound notoriety.
"I've never seen any display of that kind of conduct before, so I have to believe to some extent there must have been some severe provocation," said Ron Franz, who lives across the street.
ndillon@nydailynews.com
With Matthew Lysiak, Alison Gendar and Rocco Parascandola | – New folk hero flight attendant Steven Slater emerged from a New York City jail yesterday grateful for the outpouring of public support, while his proud cancer-battling mom said her boy "deserved" a meltdown. "Something about this resonated with people," Slater said as he left jail a day after his freakout on a JetBlue airline when a rude passenger cursed at him. "The outpouring of support is very appreciated. I'm overwhelmed, very thankful." As he left Hunts Point jail after posting a $2500 bail, employees shouted: "You're a hero" and "You're a celebrity." His mom, Diane Slater, meanwhile, defended her off-the-rail boy. "I can understand why he snapped. I would have snapped, too," she told the New York Daily News. "I think he just had a very small meltdown, and I think he deserved to be able to have that meltdown." Slater has pleaded not guilty to criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing charges filed after he reportedly swore at the nasty flyer over the plane's PA system, then deployed the plane emergency chute to make a speedy getaway. "Free Steven Slater" Facebook fans are raising money for his defense. | [
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Excavation of two quarries in Wales by a UCL-led team of archaeologists and geologists has confirmed they are sources of Stonehenge’s ‘bluestones’– and shed light on how they were quarried and transported.
New research by the team published today in Antiquity presents detailed evidence of prehistoric quarrying in the Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire, helping to answer long-standing questions about why, when and how Stonehenge was built.
The team of scientists includes researchers from UCL, University of Manchester, Bournemouth University, University of Southampton, University of Leicester, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, and Dyfed Archaeological Trust.
The very large standing stones at Stonehenge are of ‘sarsen’, a local sandstone, but the smaller ones, known as ‘bluestones’, come from the Preseli hills in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Geologists have known since the 1920s that the bluestones were brought to Stonehenge from somewhere in the Preseli Hills, but only now has there been collaboration with archaeologists to locate and excavate the actual quarries from which they came.
Director of the project, Professor Mike Parker Pearson (UCL Institute of Archaeology), said: “This has been a wonderful opportunity for geologists and archaeologists to work together. The geologists have been able to lead us to the actual outcrops where Stonehenge’s stones were extracted.”
The Stonehenge bluestones are of volcanic and igneous rocks, the most common of which are called dolerite and rhyolite. Dr Richard Bevins (Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales) and Dr Rob Ixer (UCL and University of Leicester) have identified the outcrop of Carn Goedog as the main source of Stonehenge’s ‘spotted dolerite’ bluestones and the outcrop of Craig Rhos-y-felin as a source for one of the ‘rhyolite’ bluestones. The research published today details excavations at Craig Rhos-y-felin specifically.
The special formation of the rock, which forms natural pillars at these outcrops, allowed the prehistoric quarry-workers to detach each megalith (standing stone) with a minimum of effort. “They only had to insert wooden wedges into the cracks between the pillars and then let the Welsh rain do the rest by swelling the wood to ease each pillar off the rock face” said Dr Josh Pollard (University of Southampton). “The quarry-workers then lowered the thin pillars onto platforms of earth and stone, a sort of ‘loading bay’ from where the huge stones could be dragged away along trackways leading out of each quarry.”
Professor Colin Richards (University of Manchester), an expert in Neolithic quarries, said: “The two outcrops are really impressive – they may well have had special significance for prehistoric people. When we saw them for the first time, we knew immediately that we had found the source.”
Radiocarbon-dating of burnt hazelnuts and charcoal from the quarry-workers’ camp fires reveals that there were several occurrences of megalith-quarrying at these outcrops. Stonehenge was built during the Neolithic period, between 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. Both of the quarries in Preseli were exploited in the Neolithic, and Craig Rhos-y-felin was also quarried in the Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago.
“We have dates of around 3400 BC for Craig Rhos-y-felin and 3200 BC for Carn Goedog, which is intriguing because the bluestones didn’t get put up at Stonehenge until around 2900 BC” said Professor Parker Pearson. “It could have taken those Neolithic stone-draggers nearly 500 years to get them to Stonehenge, but that’s pretty improbable in my view. It’s more likely that the stones were first used in a local monument, somewhere near the quarries, that was then dismantled and dragged off to Wiltshire.”
Professor Kate Welham (Bournemouth University) thinks that the ruins of any dismantled monument are likely to lie somewhere between the two megalith quarries. She said: “We’ve been conducting geophysical surveys, trial excavations and aerial photographic analysis throughout the area and we think we have the most likely spot. The results are very promising – we may find something big in 2016.”
The megalith quarries are on the north side of the Preseli hills, and this location undermines previous theories about how the bluestones were transported from Wales to Stonehenge. Previous writers have often suggested that bluestones were taken southwards from the hills to Milford Haven and then floated on boats or rafts, but this now seems unlikely.
“The only logical direction for the bluestones to go was to the north then either by sea around St David’s Head or eastwards overland through the valleys along the route that is now the A40” said Professor Parker Pearson. “Personally I think that the overland route is more likely. Each of the 80 monoliths weighed less than 2 tons, so teams of people or oxen could have managed this. We know from examples in India and elsewhere in Asia that single stones this size can even be carried on wooden lattices by groups of 60 – they didn’t even have to drag them if they didn’t want to.”
Phil Bennett, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority’s Culture and Heritage Manager, said: “This project is making a wonderful contribution to our knowledge of the National Park’s importance in prehistory.”
The new discoveries may also help to understand why Stonehenge was built. Parker Pearson and his team believe that the bluestones were erected at Stonehenge around 2900 BC, long before the giant sarsens were put up around 2500 BC.
“Stonehenge was a Welsh monument from its very beginning. If we can find the original monument in Wales from which it was built, we will finally be able to solve the mystery of why Stonehenge was built and why some of its stones were brought so far”, said Professor Parker Pearson.
Further excavations are planned for 2016.
Craig Rhos-y-felin: a Welsh bluestone megalith quarry for Stonehenge’ is published in the journal Antiquity on Monday 7th December 2015.
Links
Image
Excavations at Craig Rhos-y-felin (Courtesy of Adam Stanford © Aerial-Cam Ltd)
Media contact
Siobhan Pipa
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9041
Email: s.pipa [at] ucl.ac.uk | – Researchers in London think they have solved one of the most enduring mysteries of Stonehenge: How did a bunch of prehistoric Britons haul massive stones from a quarry in Wales to the site of the monument more than 100 miles? "The answer," per the Telegraph, "is surprisingly simple." By mounting a giant stone on a wooden sleigh and dragging it along a track of timbers, a team from University College London found that just 10 people were able to move a more than 2,000-pound stone at a rate of about 1mph. “We were expecting to need at least 15 people to move the stone so to find we could do it with 10 was quite interesting,” doctoral student Barney Harris tells the Telegraph. The rocks in question, the ones at the center of the monument known as bluestones, were quarried in Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire, Wales, according to a separate study last year. They were laid at Stonehenge, some 140 miles away in Wiltshire, around 2400 BC, according to Seeker.com. The larger stones around the perimeter, called sarsens, are local sandstone and were laid during a second phase of construction about 500 years later. The sleigh-and-track method, if that's what Stonehenge's architects used, is not unique, Harris tells the Telegraph. “We know that pre-industrialized societies like the Maram Naga in India still use this kind of sledge to construct huge stone monuments, he says, adding that the Japanese are known to have used similar sleighs thousands of years ago. Could oxen have been used to pull the stones along the track? "Oxen are quite belligerent and difficult to control," Harris says. "This experiment shows that humans could have carried out the task fairly easily." (A century ago, Cecil Chubb bought Stonehenge on a whim.) | [
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Cinnamon is a delicious addition to toast, coffee and breakfast rolls. Eating the tasty household spice also might improve learning ability, according to new study results published online in the July issue of the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology.
The study by neurological scientists at Rush University Medical Center found that feeding cinnamon to laboratory mice determined to have poor learning ability made the mice better learners.
"This would be one of the safest and the easiest approaches to convert poor learners to good learners," said Kalipada Pahan, PhD, the lead researcher of the study and the Floyd A. Davis Professor of Neurology at Rush.
Some people are born naturally good learners, some become good learners by effort, and some find it hard to learn new tasks even with effort. Little is known about the neurological processes that cause someone to be a poor learner and how to improve performance in poor learners.
"Understanding brain mechanisms that lead to poor learning is important to developing effective strategies to improve memory and learning ability," Pahan said.
Cinnamon role reversal
The key to gaining that understanding lies in the hippocampus, a small part in the brain that generates, organizes and stores memory. Researchers have found that the hippocampus of poor learners has less CREB (a protein involved in memory and learning) and more alpha5 subunit of GABAA receptor or GABRA5 (a protein that generates tonic inhibitory conductance in the brain) than good learners.
The mice in the study received oral feedings of ground cinnamon, which their bodies metabolized into sodium benzoate, a chemical used as a drug treatment for brain damage. When the sodium benzoate entered the mice's brains, it increased CREB, decreased GABRA5, and stimulated the plasticity (ability to change) of hippocampal neurons.
These changes in turn led to improved memory and learning among the mice.
"We have successfully used cinnamon to reverse biochemical, cellular and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with poor learning," Pahan said.
The researchers used a Barnes maze, a standard elevated circular maze consisting of 20 holes, to identify mice with good and bad learning abilities. After two days of training, the mice were examined for their ability to find the target hole. They tested the mice again after one month of cinnamon feeding.
The researchers found that after eating their cinnamon, the poor learning mice had improved memory and learning at a level found in good learning mice. However, they did not find any significant improvement among good learners by cinnamon.
"Individual difference in learning and educational performance is a global issue," Pahan said. "We need to further test this approach in poor learners. If these results are replicated in poor learning students, it would be a remarkable advance."
Cinnamon also may aid against Parkinson's disease
Cinnamon has been a sweet spot for Pahan's research. He and his colleagues previously that cinnamon can reverse changes in the brains of mice with Parkinson's disease.
These studies have made the researchers spice connoisseurs: They used mass spectrometric analysis to identify the purer of the two major types of cinnamon widely available in the United States -- Chinese cinnamon (Cinnamonum cassia) and original Ceylon cinnamon.
"Although both types of cinnamon are metabolized into sodium benzoate, we have seen that Ceylon cinnamon is much more pure than Chinese cinnamon, as the latter contains coumarin, a hepatotoxic (liver damaging) molecule," Pahan said.
The study of cinnamon and learning ability was supported by grants from National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Alzheimer's Association. ||||| Cinnamon has been used as a medicine for over 3,000 years. Modern studies confirm that this sweet and spicy bark can help with diabetes, digestion, and pain. But recent research reveals a potentially new function for cinnamon: improving our ability to learn.
In a study published June 2016 in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, researchers found that mice that had previously demonstrated poor spatial memory learned to navigate a maze in less than half the time after taking cinnamon orally for a month, even when the location of the exit was changed with each test.
Researchers also discovered that the cinnamon treatment contributed to favorable changes in the hippocampus of these mice.
If the effects seen in mice are translated to human-size doses, adults would need about half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder per day.
If the effects seen in mice are translated to human-size doses, adults would need about half a teaspoon of cinnamon powder per day.
A previous trial by the same research group found that cinnamon protected brain proteins and neurons that have been shown to deteriorate in Parkinson’s disease.
How It Works
According to researchers, the mechanism behind cinnamon’s brain-enhancing influence is sodium benzoate—a chemical our body extracts from cinnamon when metabolized by the liver. Studies have shown that sodium benzoate has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions and helps promote strong, healthy neurons. That’s why the chemical is an approved drug for some neural disorders.
Related Coverage Can Cinnamon Help Protect You From Cancer?
So why not skip the cinnamon and just use pure sodium benzoate? According to Kalipada Pahan, Ph.D.—one of the study authors and a neurology professor at Rush University Medical Center—cinnamon is a superior source of this chemical.
“If we are using sodium benzoate, we have to use a higher dose or three to four doses per day because sodium benzoate is water soluble and quickly excreted out through the urine,” Dr. Pahan wrote in an email.
“On the other hand, sodium benzoate is released from cinnamon within our body slowly throughout the day. Therefore, cinnamon itself works as a slow-releasing formulation of sodium benzoate. This is definitely an advantage of cinnamon,” according to Dr. Pahan.
Another drawback of synthetic sodium benzoate is toxicity. The chemical is often used as a preservative in food and beverages because it inhibits mold, but it has also been linked to neurodegenerative disease at high doses. Even worse, when synthetic sodium benzoate mixes with vitamin C, it forms benzene, a known carcinogen.
Such ill effects do not occur with cinnamon.
How to Use
Mouse studies are a first step, but it remains to be seen whether cinnamon’s brain-boosting virtues hold up in a human trial. Pahan says there is discussion about testing cinnamon on slow-learning school children to see if they have experience similar to mice.
Dementia patients are another group that might benefit from cinnamon consumption. “We are talking with the neurologists for a possible clinical trial in Alzheimer’s disease,” Pahan said.
Related Coverage 9 Herbs and Spices With Proven Health Benefits
Cinnamaldehyde and other compounds specific only to cinnamon are what trigger sodium-benzoate production in the body, and both cassia bark (Chinese cinnamon) and true cinnamon exhibit this effect. But Pahan recommends sweeter Ceylon or Sri Lankan cinnamon (Cinnamonum verum) for long-term use because cassia bark contains small amounts of coumarin, a molecule toxic to the liver.
If the effects seen in mice are translated to human-size doses, adults would need about 3 grams (a little more than half a teaspoon) of cinnamon powder per day.
Of course, seeing what cinnamon can do in the lab, Pahan enjoys a larger dose.
“I take about one U.S. teaspoonful of cinnamon powder (Cinnamonum verum) mixed with honey as a supplement every night,” he said.
Read More 6 Things You Should Know About Cinnamon
Read more about the history of cinnamon. | – Scientists say they've discovered "one of the safest and the easiest approaches to convert poor learners to good learners." And all you have to do is eat cinnamon. Researchers at Rush University Medical Center say that feeding cinnamon to mice with a poor learning ability turned them into a bunch of brainiacs by transforming the part of the brain that controls memory. Previous research has found poor learners have less of a protein vital to memory and learning, known as CREB, and more of a protein known as GABRA5 in the hippocampus. However, poor-learning mice showed increased CREB and decreased GABRA5 after a month of daily cinnamon doses, study author Kalipada Pahan explains in a release. Essentially, the body converts cinnamon into sodium benzoate, which promotes healthy neurons, reports the Epoch Times. The mice were then able to navigate a maze in half the time it took them before, even though the exit moved with each test. The ability was similar to that of so-called good-learning mice. Mice who were given cinnamon but were already good learners, however, didn't exhibit any change. "We have successfully used cinnamon to reverse biochemical, cellular, and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with poor learning," says Pahan, adding "if these results are replicated in poor learning students, it would be a remarkable advance." Interestingly, Pahan notes cinnamon is superior to straight doses of sodium benzoate because the chemical is slowly released from cinnamon but is "quickly excreted out through the urine" when taken on its own. (This doesn't mean you should take the cinnamon challenge.) | [
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The White House called a report that President Obama called off the raid on Osama bin Laden three times a "fabrication."
In a new book previewed by the Daily Caller, author Richard Miniter alleges that Obama called off the raid three times at the urging of senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, before finally authorizing the mission.
"That is an utter fabrication. It's seems pretty clear that Mr. Miniter doesn't know what he's talking about," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Monday.
"Ms. Jarrett, like the vast majority of the president's senior staff was not read in on the operation on the mission against Osama bin Laden," Earnest said.
And as the liberal group Media Matters notes, Miniter's report does not square with other reporting on the timeline of the mission. Miniter alleges that Obama called off the operation first in January, but the New Yorker's Nicholas Schmidle reported that the plan to kill bin Laden was not even presented to the president until March.
UPDATE on 8/1: Miniter responds, saying he stands by his sources: "The White House is objecting to a claim that no one is making. "Read in" is intel-speak for being briefed on sensitive technical details, such as flight paths and radio frequencies. My sources do not speak to the issue of whether Jarrett had access to that kind of sensitive intelligence regarding the bin Laden operation. But Jarrett met with the president repeatedly throughout the planning process (and indeed, more often than CIA director Leon Panetta) and participants told me that the three halts to the mission were called at her behest. Those are the facts. If they are in doubt, Ms. Jarrett should appear under oath before Congress.”
Further, in a statement argues that the New Yorker's account does not contradict his reporting: "Some media accounts have claimed that Miniter's book is contradicted by a New Yorker article on the bin Laden, published last summer. That article refers to the timing of the training of the Seal team for the operation, not the timing of CIA, Defense Department and White House planning for the operation, which began months earlier. There is no contradiction. Miniter's book and the magazine article are talking about different elements of the bin Laden operation." ||||| The Daily Caller reported late last night that they obtained an exclusive first look at Richard Miniter's forthcoming book Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him, which contains the "bombshell" allegation (sourced to a single anonymous official) that in the first three months of 2011, President Obama thrice canceled the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. Miniter's and the Caller's reporting is contradicted by previous in-depth reports indicating that the plan for the raid wasn't delivered to the president until the end of March, and training for the operation didn't begin until mid-April, meaning that there wasn't yet a "mission" for the president to cancel. The Daily Caller's David Martosko wrote last night: In "Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him," Richard Miniter writes that Obama canceled the "kill" mission in January 2011, again in February, and a third time in March. Obama's close adviser Valerie Jarrett persuaded him to hold off each time, according to the book. Miniter, a two-time New York Times best-selling author, cites an unnamed source with Joint Special Operations Command who had direct knowledge of the operation and its planning. Miniter's reporting doesn't match up with the New Yorker's deep dive into the Bin Laden raid, published in August 2011, which offered a timeline of the planning process based on quotes and information from a variety of sources, named and otherwise. According to the New Yorker, in late 2010 President Obama ordered Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to "begin exploring options for a military strike" against the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where Bin Laden was thought to be hiding, and that planning began in February 2011. At that point, according to the Caller's vague reporting, Obama is alleged to have already twice "canceled" the mission.
From the New Yorker:
In late 2010, Obama ordered Panetta to begin exploring options for a military strike on the compound. Panetta contacted Vice-Admiral Bill McRaven, the SEAL in charge of JSOC. Traditionally, the Army has dominated the special-operations community, but in recent years the SEALs have become a more prominent presence; McRaven's boss at the time of the raid, Eric Olson--the head of Special Operations Command, or SOCOM--is a Navy admiral who used to be a commander of DEVGRU. In January, 2011, McRaven asked a JSOC official named Brian, who had previously been a DEVGRU deputy commander, to present a raid plan. The next month, Brian, who has the all-American look of a high-school quarterback, moved into an unmarked office on the first floor of the C.I.A.'s printing plant, in Langley, Virginia. Brian covered the walls of the office with topographical maps and satellite images of the Abbottabad compound. He and half a dozen JSOC officers were formally attached to the Pakistan/Afghanistan department of the C.I.A.'s Counterterrorism Center, but in practice they operated on their own. A senior counterterrorism official who visited the JSOC redoubt described it as an enclave of unusual secrecy and discretion. "Everything they were working on was closely held," the official said.
Obama convened his national security team in mid-March to review the "possible courses of action" devised by "Brian" and his team, at which point Obama ordered Admiral William McRaven, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, to begin planning the raid on Bin Laden's compound. That plan was delivered to the president on March 29, and the SEAL team began training for the operation on April 10. This means that, according to the Daily Caller, by late March the president had "canceled" three times a "mission" that didn't yet exist.
Again, from the New Yorker:
On March 14th, Obama called his national-security advisers into the White House Situation Room and reviewed a spreadsheet listing possible courses of action against the Abbottabad compound. Most were variations of either a JSOC raid or an airstrike. Some versions included coöperating with the Pakistani military; some did not. Obama decided against informing or working with Pakistan. "There was a real lack of confidence that the Pakistanis could keep this secret for more than a nanosecond," a senior adviser to the President told me. At the end of the meeting, Obama instructed McRaven to proceed with planning the raid. Brian invited James, the commander of DEVGRU's Red Squadron, and Mark, the master chief petty officer, to join him at C.I.A. headquarters. They spent the next two and a half weeks considering ways to get inside bin Laden's house. One option entailed flying helicopters to a spot outside Abbottabad and letting the team sneak into the city on foot. The risk of detection was high, however, and the SEALs would be tired by a long run to the compound. The planners had contemplated tunnelling in--or, at least, the possibility that bin Laden might tunnel out. But images provided by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency showed that there was standing water in the vicinity, suggesting that the compound sat in a flood basin. The water table was probably just below the surface, making tunnels highly unlikely. Eventually, the planners agreed that it made the most sense to fly directly into the compound. "Special operations is about doing what's not expected, and probably the least expected thing here was that a helicopter would come in, drop guys on the roof, and land in the yard," the special-operations officer said. On March 29th, McRaven brought the plan to Obama. The President's military advisers were divided. Some supported a raid, some an airstrike, and others wanted to hold off until the intelligence improved. Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defense, was one of the most outspoken opponents of a helicopter assault. Gates reminded his colleagues that he had been in the Situation Room of the Carter White House when military officials presented Eagle Claw -- the 1980 Delta Force operation that aimed at rescuing American hostages in Tehran but resulted in a disastrous collision in the Iranian desert, killing eight American soldiers. "They said that was a pretty good idea, too," Gates warned. He and General James Cartwright, the vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs, favored an airstrike by B-2 Spirit bombers. That option would avoid the risk of having American boots on the ground in Pakistan. But the Air Force then calculated that a payload of thirty-two smart bombs, each weighing two thousand pounds, would be required to penetrate thirty feet below ground, insuring that any bunkers would collapse. "That much ordnance going off would be the equivalent of an earthquake," Cartwright told me. The prospect of flattening a Pakistani city made Obama pause. He shelved the B-2 option and directed McRaven to start rehearsing the raid.
UPDATE: The White House has flatly denied Miniter's allegation, telling USA Today that it is "an utter fabrication" and that White House senior adviser Valerie Jarret "wasn't read into super-secret plans for the raid that took place in May of 2011." ||||| Shortly after eleven o’clock on the night of May 1st, two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters lifted off from Jalalabad Air Field, in eastern Afghanistan, and embarked on a covert mission into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden. Inside the aircraft were twenty-three Navy SEAL s from Team Six, which is officially known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU . A Pakistani-American translator, whom I will call Ahmed, and a dog named Cairo—a Belgian Malinois—were also aboard. It was a moonless evening, and the helicopters’ pilots, wearing night-vision goggles, flew without lights over mountains that straddle the border with Pakistan. Radio communications were kept to a minimum, and an eerie calm settled inside the aircraft.
Fifteen minutes later, the helicopters ducked into an alpine valley and slipped, undetected, into Pakistani airspace. For more than sixty years, Pakistan’s military has maintained a state of high alert against its eastern neighbor, India. Because of this obsession, Pakistan’s “principal air defenses are all pointing east,” Shuja Nawaz, an expert on the Pakistani Army and the author of “Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within,” told me. Senior defense and Administration officials concur with this assessment, but a Pakistani senior military official, whom I reached at his office, in Rawalpindi, disagreed. “No one leaves their borders unattended,” he said. Though he declined to elaborate on the location or orientation of Pakistan’s radars—“It’s not where the radars are or aren’t”—he said that the American infiltration was the result of “technological gaps we have vis-à-vis the U.S.” The Black Hawks, each of which had two pilots and a crewman from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, or the Night Stalkers, had been modified to mask heat, noise, and movement; the copters’ exteriors had sharp, flat angles and were covered with radar-dampening “skin.”
The SEAL s’ destination was a house in the small city of Abbottabad, which is about a hundred and twenty miles across the Pakistan border. Situated north of Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, Abbottabad is in the foothills of the Pir Panjal Range, and is popular in the summertime with families seeking relief from the blistering heat farther south. Founded in 1853 by a British major named James Abbott, the city became the home of a prestigious military academy after the creation of Pakistan, in 1947. According to information gathered by the Central Intelligence Agency, bin Laden was holed up on the third floor of a house in a one-acre compound just off Kakul Road in Bilal Town, a middle-class neighborhood less than a mile from the entrance to the academy. If all went according to plan, the SEAL s would drop from the helicopters into the compound, overpower bin Laden’s guards, shoot and kill him at close range, and then take the corpse back to Afghanistan.
The helicopters traversed Mohmand, one of Pakistan’s seven tribal areas, skirted the north of Peshawar, and continued due east. The commander of DEVGRU’ s Red Squadron, whom I will call James, sat on the floor, squeezed among ten other SEAL s, Ahmed, and Cairo. (The names of all the covert operators mentioned in this story have been changed.) James, a broad-chested man in his late thirties, does not have the lithe swimmer’s frame that one might expect of a SEAL —he is built more like a discus thrower. That night, he wore a shirt and trousers in Desert Digital Camouflage, and carried a silenced Sig Sauer P226 pistol, along with extra ammunition; a CamelBak, for hydration; and gel shots, for endurance. He held a short-barrel, silenced M4 rifle. (Others SEAL s had chosen the Heckler & Koch MP7.) A “blowout kit,” for treating field trauma, was tucked into the small of James’s back. Stuffed into one of his pockets was a laminated gridded map of the compound. In another pocket was a booklet with photographs and physical descriptions of the people suspected of being inside. He wore a noise-cancelling headset, which blocked out nearly everything besides his heartbeat.
During the ninety-minute helicopter flight, James and his teammates rehearsed the operation in their heads. Since the autumn of 2001, they had rotated through Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and the Horn of Africa, at a brutal pace. At least three of the SEAL s had participated in the sniper operation off the coast of Somalia, in April, 2009, that freed Richard Phillips, the captain of the Maersk Alabama, and left three pirates dead. In October, 2010, a DEVGRU team attempted to rescue Linda Norgrove, a Scottish aid worker who had been kidnapped in eastern Afghanistan by the Taliban. During a raid of a Taliban hideout, a SEAL tossed a grenade at an insurgent, not realizing that Norgrove was nearby. She died from the blast. The mistake haunted the SEAL s who had been involved; three of them were subsequently expelled from DEVGRU.
The Abbottabad raid was not DEVGRU ’s maiden venture into Pakistan, either. The team had surreptitiously entered the country on ten to twelve previous occasions, according to a special-operations officer who is deeply familiar with the bin Laden raid. Most of those missions were forays into North and South Waziristan, where many military and intelligence analysts had thought that bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders were hiding. (Only one such operation—the September, 2008, raid of Angoor Ada, a village in South Waziristan—has been widely reported.) Abbottabad was, by far, the farthest that DEVGRU had ventured into Pakistani territory. It also represented the team’s first serious attempt since late 2001 at killing “Crankshaft”—the target name that the Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, had given bin Laden. Since escaping that winter during a battle in the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan, bin Laden had defied American efforts to trace him. Indeed, it remains unclear how he ended up living in Abbottabad.
Forty-five minutes after the Black Hawks departed, four MH-47 Chinooks launched from the same runway in Jalalabad. Two of them flew to the border, staying on the Afghan side; the other two proceeded into Pakistan. Deploying four Chinooks was a last-minute decision made after President Barack Obama said he wanted to feel assured that the Americans could “fight their way out of Pakistan.” Twenty-five additional SEAL s from DEVGRU , pulled from a squadron stationed in Afghanistan, sat in the Chinooks that remained at the border; this “quick-reaction force” would be called into action only if the mission went seriously wrong. The third and fourth Chinooks were each outfitted with a pair of M134 Miniguns. They followed the Black Hawks’ initial flight path but landed at a predetermined point on a dry riverbed in a wide, unpopulated valley in northwest Pakistan. The nearest house was half a mile away. On the ground, the copters’ rotors were kept whirring while operatives monitored the surrounding hills for encroaching Pakistani helicopters or fighter jets. One of the Chinooks was carrying fuel bladders, in case the other aircraft needed to refill their tanks.
Meanwhile, the two Black Hawks were quickly approaching Abbottabad from the northwest, hiding behind the mountains on the northernmost edge of the city. Then the pilots banked right and went south along a ridge that marks Abbottabad’s eastern perimeter. When those hills tapered off, the pilots curled right again, toward the city center, and made their final approach.
During the next four minutes, the interior of the Black Hawks rustled alive with the metallic cough of rounds being chambered. Mark, a master chief petty officer and the ranking noncommissioned officer on the operation, crouched on one knee beside the open door of the lead helicopter. He and the eleven other SEAL s on “helo one,” who were wearing gloves and had on night-vision goggles, were preparing to fast-rope into bin Laden’s yard. They waited for the crew chief to give the signal to throw the rope. But, as the pilot passed over the compound, pulled into a high hover, and began lowering the aircraft, he felt the Black Hawk getting away from him. He sensed that they were going to crash.
One month before the 2008 Presidential election, Obama, then a senator from Illinois, squared off in a debate against John McCain in an arena at Belmont University, in Nashville. A woman in the audience asked Obama if he would be willing to pursue Al Qaeda leaders inside Pakistan, even if that meant invading an ally nation. He replied, “If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable, or unwilling, to take them out, then I think that we have to act and we will take them out. We will kill bin Laden. We will crush Al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national-security priority.” McCain, who often criticized Obama for his naïveté on foreign-policy matters, characterized the promise as foolish, saying, “I’m not going to telegraph my punches.”
Four months after Obama entered the White House, Leon Panetta, the director of the C.I.A., briefed the President on the agency’s latest programs and initiatives for tracking bin Laden. Obama was unimpressed. In June, 2009, he drafted a memo instructing Panetta to create a “detailed operation plan” for finding the Al Qaeda leader and to “ensure that we have expended every effort.” Most notably, the President intensified the C.I.A.’s classified drone program; there were more missile strikes inside Pakistan during Obama’s first year in office than in George W. Bush’s eight. The terrorists swiftly registered the impact: that July, CBS reported that a recent Al Qaeda communiqué had referred to “brave commanders” who had been “snatched away” and to “so many hidden homes [which] have been levelled.” The document blamed the “very grave” situation on spies who had “spread throughout the land like locusts.” Nevertheless, bin Laden’s trail remained cold.
In August, 2010, Panetta returned to the White House with better news. C.I.A. analysts believed that they had pinpointed bin Laden’s courier, a man in his early thirties named Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. Kuwaiti drove a white S.U.V. whose spare-tire cover was emblazoned with an image of a white rhino. The C.I.A. began tracking the vehicle. One day, a satellite captured images of the S.U.V. pulling into a large concrete compound in Abbottabad. Agents, determining that Kuwaiti was living there, used aerial surveillance to keep watch on the compound, which consisted of a three-story main house, a guesthouse, and a few outbuildings. They observed that residents of the compound burned their trash, instead of putting it out for collection, and concluded that the compound lacked a phone or an Internet connection. Kuwaiti and his brother came and went, but another man, living on the third floor, never left. When this third individual did venture outside, he stayed behind the compound’s walls. Some analysts speculated that the third man was bin Laden, and the agency dubbed him the Pacer.
Obama, though excited, was not yet prepared to order military action. John Brennan, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, told me that the President’s advisers began an “interrogation of the data, to see if, by that interrogation, you’re going to disprove the theory that bin Laden was there.” The C.I.A. intensified its intelligence-collection efforts, and, according to a recent report in the Guardian, a physician working for the agency conducted an immunization drive in Abbottabad, in the hope of acquiring DNA samples from bin Laden’s children. (No one in the compound ultimately received any immunizations.)
In late 2010, Obama ordered Panetta to begin exploring options for a military strike on the compound. Panetta contacted Vice-Admiral Bill McRaven, the SEAL in charge of JSOC . Traditionally, the Army has dominated the special-operations community, but in recent years the SEAL s have become a more prominent presence; McRaven’s boss at the time of the raid, Eric Olson—the head of Special Operations Command, or SOCOM —is a Navy admiral who used to be a commander of DEVGRU . In January, 2011, McRaven asked a JSOC official named Brian, who had previously been a DEVGRU deputy commander, to present a raid plan. The next month, Brian, who has the all-American look of a high-school quarterback, moved into an unmarked office on the first floor of the C.I.A.’s printing plant, in Langley, Virginia. Brian covered the walls of the office with topographical maps and satellite images of the Abbottabad compound. He and half a dozen JSOC officers were formally attached to the Pakistan/Afghanistan department of the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorism Center, but in practice they operated on their own. A senior counterterrorism official who visited the JSOC redoubt described it as an enclave of unusual secrecy and discretion. “Everything they were working on was closely held,” the official said.
The relationship between special-operations units and the C.I.A. dates back to the Vietnam War. But the line between the two communities has increasingly blurred as C.I.A. officers and military personnel have encountered one another on multiple tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. “These people grew up together,” a senior Defense Department official told me. “We are in each other’s systems, we speak each other’s languages.” (Exemplifying this trend, General David H. Petraeus, the former commanding general in Iraq and Afghanistan, is now the incoming head of the C.I.A., and Panetta has taken over the Department of Defense.) The bin Laden mission—plotted at C.I.A. headquarters and authorized under C.I.A. legal statutes but conducted by Navy DEVGRU operators—brought the coöperation between the agency and the Pentagon to an even higher level. John Radsan, a former assistant general counsel at the C.I.A., said that the Abbottabad raid amounted to “a complete incorporation of JSOC into a C.I.A. operation.”
On March 14th, Obama called his national-security advisers into the White House Situation Room and reviewed a spreadsheet listing possible courses of action against the Abbottabad compound. Most were variations of either a JSOC raid or an airstrike. Some versions included coöperating with the Pakistani military; some did not. Obama decided against informing or working with Pakistan. “There was a real lack of confidence that the Pakistanis could keep this secret for more than a nanosecond,” a senior adviser to the President told me. At the end of the meeting, Obama instructed McRaven to proceed with planning the raid.
Brian invited James, the commander of DEVGRU ’s Red Squadron, and Mark, the master chief petty officer, to join him at C.I.A. headquarters. They spent the next two and a half weeks considering ways to get inside bin Laden’s house. One option entailed flying helicopters to a spot outside Abbottabad and letting the team sneak into the city on foot. The risk of detection was high, however, and the SEAL s would be tired by a long run to the compound. The planners had contemplated tunnelling in—or, at least, the possibility that bin Laden might tunnel out. But images provided by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency showed that there was standing water in the vicinity, suggesting that the compound sat in a flood basin. The water table was probably just below the surface, making tunnels highly unlikely. Eventually, the planners agreed that it made the most sense to fly directly into the compound. “Special operations is about doing what’s not expected, and probably the least expected thing here was that a helicopter would come in, drop guys on the roof, and land in the yard,” the special-operations officer said.
On March 29th, McRaven brought the plan to Obama. The President’s military advisers were divided. Some supported a raid, some an airstrike, and others wanted to hold off until the intelligence improved. Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defense, was one of the most outspoken opponents of a helicopter assault. Gates reminded his colleagues that he had been in the Situation Room of the Carter White House when military officials presented Eagle Claw—the 1980 Delta Force operation that aimed at rescuing American hostages in Tehran but resulted in a disastrous collision in the Iranian desert, killing eight American soldiers. “They said that was a pretty good idea, too,” Gates warned. He and General James Cartwright, the vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs, favored an airstrike by B-2 Spirit bombers. That option would avoid the risk of having American boots on the ground in Pakistan. But the Air Force then calculated that a payload of thirty-two smart bombs, each weighing two thousand pounds, would be required to penetrate thirty feet below ground, insuring that any bunkers would collapse. “That much ordnance going off would be the equivalent of an earthquake,” Cartwright told me. The prospect of flattening a Pakistani city made Obama pause. He shelved the B-2 option and directed McRaven to start rehearsing the raid.
Brian, James, and Mark selected a team of two dozen SEAL s from Red Squadron and told them to report to a densely forested site in North Carolina for a training exercise on April 10th. (Red Squadron is one of four squadrons in DEVGRU , which has about three hundred operators in all.) None of the SEAL s, besides James and Mark, were aware of the C.I.A. intelligence on bin Laden’s compound until a lieutenant commander walked into an office at the site. He found a two-star Army general from JSOC headquarters seated at a conference table with Brian, James, Mark, and several analysts from the C.I.A. This obviously wasn’t a training exercise. The lieutenant commander was promptly “read in.” A replica of the compound had been built at the site, with walls and chain-link fencing marking the layout of the compound. The team spent the next five days practicing maneuvers.
On April 18th, the DEVGRU squad flew to Nevada for another week of rehearsals. The practice site was a large government-owned stretch of desert with an elevation equivalent to the area surrounding Abbottabad. An extant building served as bin Laden’s house. Aircrews plotted out a path that paralleled the flight from Jalalabad to Abbottabad. Each night after sundown, drills commenced. Twelve SEAL s, including Mark, boarded helo one. Eleven SEAL s, Ahmed, and Cairo boarded helo two. The pilots flew in the dark, arrived at the simulated compound, and settled into a hover while the SEAL s fast-roped down. Not everyone on the team was accustomed to helicopter assaults. Ahmed had been pulled from a desk job for the mission and had never descended a fast rope. He quickly learned the technique.
The assault plan was now honed. Helo one was to hover over the yard, drop two fast ropes, and let all twelve SEAL s slide down into the yard. Helo two would fly to the northeast corner of the compound and let out Ahmed, Cairo, and four SEAL s, who would monitor the perimeter of the building. The copter would then hover over the house, and James and the remaining six SEAL s would shimmy down to the roof. As long as everything was cordial, Ahmed would hold curious neighbors at bay. The SEAL s and the dog could assist more aggressively, if needed. Then, if bin Laden was proving difficult to find, Cairo could be sent into the house to search for false walls or hidden doors. “This wasn’t a hard op,” the special-operations officer told me. “It would be like hitting a target in McLean”—the upscale Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C.
A planeload of guests arrived on the night of April 21st. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, along with Olson and McRaven, sat with C.I.A. personnel in a hangar as Brian, James, Mark, and the pilots presented a brief on the raid, which had been named Operation Neptune’s Spear. Despite JSOC ’s lead role in Neptune’s Spear, the mission officially remained a C.I.A. covert operation. The covert approach allowed the White House to hide its involvement, if necessary. As the counterterrorism official put it recently, “If you land and everybody is out on a milk run, then you get the hell out and no one knows.” After describing the operation, the briefers fielded questions: What if a mob surrounded the compound? Were the SEAL s prepared to shoot civilians? Olson, who received the Silver Star for valor during the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” episode, in Mogadishu, Somalia, worried that it could be politically catastrophic if a U.S. helicopter were shot down inside Pakistani territory. After an hour or so of questioning, the senior officers and intelligence analysts returned to Washington. Two days later, the SEAL s flew back to Dam Neck, their base in Virginia.
On the night of Tuesday, April 26th, the SEAL team boarded a Boeing C-17 Globemaster at Naval Air Station Oceana, a few miles from Dam Neck. After a refuelling stop at Ramstein Air Base, in Germany, the C-17 continued to Bagram Airfield, north of Kabul. The SEAL s spent a night in Bagram and moved to Jalalabad on Thursday.*
That day in Washington, Panetta convened more than a dozen senior C.I.A. officials and analysts for a final preparatory meeting. Panetta asked the participants, one by one, to declare how confident they were that bin Laden was inside the Abbottabad compound. The counterterrorism official told me that the percentages “ranged from forty per cent to ninety or ninety-five per cent,” and added, “This was a circumstantial case.”
Panetta was mindful of the analysts’ doubts, but he believed that the intelligence was better than anything that the C.I.A. had gathered on bin Laden since his flight from Tora Bora. Late on Thursday afternoon, Panetta and the rest of the national-security team met with the President. For the next few nights, there would be virtually no moonlight over Abbottabad—the ideal condition for a raid. After that, it would be another month until the lunar cycle was in its darkest phase. Several analysts from the National Counterterrorism Center were invited to critique the C.I.A.’s analysis; their confidence in the intelligence ranged between forty and sixty per cent. The center’s director, Michael Leiter, said that it would be preferable to wait for stronger confirmation of bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad. Yet, as Ben Rhodes, a deputy national-security adviser, put it to me recently, the longer things dragged on, the greater the risk of a leak, “which would have upended the thing.” Obama adjourned the meeting just after 7 P.M. and said that he would sleep on it.
The next morning, the President met in the Map Room with Tom Donilon, his national-security adviser, Denis McDonough, a deputy adviser, and Brennan. Obama had decided to go with a DEVGRU assault, with McRaven choosing the night. It was too late for a Friday attack, and on Saturday there was excessive cloud cover. On Saturday afternoon, McRaven and Obama spoke on the phone, and McRaven said that the raid would occur on Sunday night. “Godspeed to you and your forces,” Obama told him. “Please pass on to them my personal thanks for their service and the message that I personally will be following this mission very closely.”
On the morning of Sunday, May 1st, White House officials cancelled scheduled visits, ordered sandwich platters from Costco, and transformed the Situation Room into a war room. At eleven o’clock, Obama’s top advisers began gathering around a large conference table . A video link connected them to Panetta, at C.I.A. headquarters, and McRaven, in Afghanistan. (There were at least two other command centers, one inside the Pentagon and one inside the American Embassy in Islamabad.)
Brigadier General Marshall Webb, an assistant commander of JSOC , took a seat at the end of a lacquered table in a small adjoining office and turned on his laptop. He opened multiple chat windows that kept him, and the White House, connected with the other command teams. The office where Webb sat had the only video feed in the White House showing real-time footage of the target, which was being shot by an unarmed RQ 170 drone flying more than fifteen thousand feet above Abbottabad. The JSOC planners, determined to keep the operation as secret as possible, had decided against using additional fighters or bombers. “It just wasn’t worth it,” the special-operations officer told me. The SEAL s were on their own.
Obama returned to the White House at two o’clock, after playing nine holes of golf at Andrews Air Force Base. The Black Hawks departed from Jalalabad thirty minutes later. Just before four o’clock, Panetta announced to the group in the Situation Room that the helicopters were approaching Abbottabad. Obama stood up. “I need to watch this,” he said, stepping across the hall into the small office and taking a seat alongside Webb. Vice-President Joseph Biden, Secretary Gates, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed him, as did anyone else who could fit into the office. On the office’s modestly sized LCD screen, helo one—grainy and black-and-white—appeared above the compound, then promptly ran into trouble.
When the helicopter began getting away from the pilot, he pulled back on the cyclic, which controls the pitch of the rotor blades, only to find the aircraft unresponsive. The high walls of the compound and the warm temperatures had caused the Black Hawk to descend inside its own rotor wash—a hazardous aerodynamic situation known as “settling with power.” In North Carolina, this potential problem had not become apparent, because the chain-link fencing used in rehearsals had allowed air to flow freely. A former helicopter pilot with extensive special-operations experience said of the pilot’s situation, “It’s pretty spooky—I’ve been in it myself. The only way to get out of it is to push the cyclic forward and fly out of this vertical silo you’re dropping through. That solution requires altitude. If you’re settling with power at two thousand feet, you’ve got plenty of time to recover. If you’re settling with power at fifty feet, you’re going to hit the ground.”
The pilot scrapped the plan to fast-rope and focussed on getting the aircraft down. He aimed for an animal pen in the western section of the compound. The SEAL s on board braced themselves as the tail rotor swung around, scraping the security wall. The pilot jammed the nose forward to drive it into the dirt and prevent his aircraft from rolling onto its side. Cows, chickens, and rabbits scurried. With the Black Hawk pitched at a forty-five-degree angle astride the wall, the crew sent a distress call to the idling Chinooks.
James and the SEAL s in helo two watched all this while hovering over the compound’s northeast corner. The second pilot, unsure whether his colleagues were taking fire or experiencing mechanical problems, ditched his plan to hover over the roof. Instead, he landed in a grassy field across the street from the house.
No American was yet inside the residential part of the compound. Mark and his team were inside a downed helicopter at one corner, while James and his team were at the opposite end. The teams had barely been on target for a minute, and the mission was already veering off course.
“Eternity is defined as the time be tween when you see something go awry and that first voice report,” the special-operations officer said. The officials in Washington viewed the aerial footage and waited anxiously to hear a military communication. The senior adviser to the President compared the experience to watching “the climax of a movie.”
After a few minutes, the twelve SEAL s inside helo one recovered their bearings and calmly relayed on the radio that they were proceeding with the raid. They had conducted so many operations over the past nine years that few things caught them off guard. In the months after the raid, the media have frequently suggested that the Abbottabad operation was as challenging as Operation Eagle Claw and the “Black Hawk Down” incident, but the senior Defense Department official told me that “this was not one of three missions. This was one of almost two thousand missions that have been conducted over the last couple of years, night after night.” He likened the routine of evening raids to “mowing the lawn.” On the night of May 1st alone, special-operations forces based in Afghanistan conducted twelve other missions; according to the official, those operations captured or killed between fifteen and twenty targets. “Most of the missions take off and go left,” he said. “This one took off and went right.”
Minutes after hitting the ground, Mark and the other team members began streaming out the side doors of helo one. Mud sucked at their boots as they ran alongside a ten-foot-high wall that enclosed the animal pen. A three-man demolition unit hustled ahead to the pen’s closed metal gate, reached into bags containing explosives, and placed C-4 charges on the hinges. After a loud bang, the door fell open. The nine other SEAL s rushed forward, ending up in an alleylike driveway with their backs to the house’s main entrance. They moved down the alley, silenced rifles pressed against their shoulders. Mark hung toward the rear as he established radio communications with the other team. At the end of the driveway, the Americans blew through yet another locked gate and stepped into a courtyard facing the guesthouse, where Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, bin Laden’s courier, lived with his wife and four children.
Three SEAL s in front broke off to clear the guesthouse as the remaining nine blasted through another gate and entered an inner courtyard, which faced the main house. When the smaller unit rounded the corner to face the doors of the guesthouse, they spotted Kuwaiti running inside to warn his wife and children. The Americans’ night-vision goggles cast the scene in pixellated shades of emerald green. Kuwaiti, wearing a white shalwar kameez, had grabbed a weapon and was coming back outside when the SEAL s opened fire and killed him.
The nine other SEAL s, including Mark, formed three-man units for clearing the inner courtyard. The Americans suspected that several more men were in the house: Kuwaiti’s thirty-three-year-old brother, Abrar; bin Laden’s sons Hamza and Khalid; and bin Laden himself. One SEAL unit had no sooner trod on the paved patio at the house’s front entrance when Abrar—a stocky, mustachioed man in a cream-colored shalwar kameez—appeared with an AK-47. He was shot in the chest and killed, as was his wife, Bushra, who was standing, unarmed, beside him.
Outside the compound’s walls, Ahmed, the translator, patrolled the dirt road in front of bin Laden’s house, as if he were a plainclothes Pakistani police officer. He looked the part, wearing a shalwar kameez atop a flak jacket. He, the dog Cairo, and four SEAL s were responsible for closing off the perimeter of the house while James and six other SEAL s—the contingent that was supposed to have dropped onto the roof—moved inside. For the team patrolling the perimeter, the first fifteen minutes passed without incident. Neighbors undoubtedly heard the low-flying helicopters, the sound of one crashing, and the sporadic explosions and gunfire that ensued, but nobody came outside. One local took note of the tumult in a Twitter post: “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1 AM (is a rare event).”
Eventually, a few curious Pakistanis approached to inquire about the commotion on the other side of the wall. “Go back to your houses,” Ahmed said, in Pashto, as Cairo stood watch. “There is a security operation under way.” The locals went home, none of them suspecting that they had talked to an American. When journalists descended on Bilal Town in the coming days, one resident told a reporter, “I saw soldiers emerging from the helicopters and advancing toward the house. Some of them instructed us in chaste Pashto to turn off the lights and stay inside.”
Meanwhile, James, the squadron commander, had breached one wall, crossed a section of the yard covered with trellises, breached a second wall, and joined up with the SEAL s from helo one, who were entering the ground floor of the house. What happened next is not precisely clear. “I can tell you that there was a time period of almost twenty to twenty-five minutes where we really didn’t know just exactly what was going on,” Panetta said later, on “PBS NewsHour.”
Until this moment, the operation had been monitored by dozens of defense, intelligence, and Administration officials watching the drone’s video feed. The SEAL s were not wearing helmet cams, contrary to a widely cited report by CBS. None of them had any previous knowledge of the house’s floor plan, and they were further jostled by the awareness that they were possibly minutes away from ending the costliest manhunt in American history; as a result, some of their recollections—on which this account is based—may be imprecise and, thus, subject to dispute.
As Abrar’s children ran for cover, the SEAL s began clearing the first floor of the main house, room by room. Though the Americans had thought that the house might be booby-trapped, the presence of kids at the compound suggested otherwise. “You can only be hyper-vigilant for so long,” the special-operations officer said. “Did bin Laden go to sleep every night thinking, The next night they’re coming? Of course not. Maybe for the first year or two. But not now.” Nevertheless, security precautions were in place. A locked metal gate blocked the base of the staircase leading to the second floor, making the downstairs room feel like a cage.
After blasting through the gate with C-4 charges, three SEAL s marched up the stairs. Midway up, they saw bin Laden’s twenty-three-year-old son, Khalid, craning his neck around the corner. He then appeared at the top of the staircase with an AK-47. Khalid, who wore a white T-shirt with an overstretched neckline and had short hair and a clipped beard, fired down at the Americans. (The counterterrorism official claims that Khalid was unarmed, though still a threat worth taking seriously. “You have an adult male, late at night, in the dark, coming down the stairs at you in an Al Qaeda house—your assumption is that you’re encountering a hostile.”) At least two of the SEAL s shot back and killed Khalid. According to the booklets that the SEAL s carried, up to five adult males were living inside the compound. Three of them were now dead; the fourth, bin Laden’s son Hamza, was not on the premises. The final person was bin Laden.
Before the mission commenced, the SEAL s had created a checklist of code words that had a Native American theme. Each code word represented a different stage of the mission: leaving Jalalabad, entering Pakistan, approaching the compound, and so on. “Geronimo” was to signify that bin Laden had been found.
Three SEAL s shuttled past Khalid’s body and blew open another metal cage, which obstructed the staircase leading to the third floor. Bounding up the unlit stairs, they scanned the railed landing. On the top stair, the lead SEAL swivelled right; with his night-vision goggles, he discerned that a tall, rangy man with a fist-length beard was peeking out from behind a bedroom door, ten feet away. The SEAL instantly sensed that it was Crankshaft. (The counterterrorism official asserts that the SEAL first saw bin Laden on the landing, and fired but missed.)
The Americans hurried toward the bedroom door. The first SEAL pushed it open. Two of bin Laden’s wives had placed themselves in front of him. Amal al-Fatah, bin Laden’s fifth wife, was screaming in Arabic. She motioned as if she were going to charge; the SEAL lowered his sights and shot her once, in the calf. Fearing that one or both women were wearing suicide jackets, he stepped forward, wrapped them in a bear hug, and drove them aside. He would almost certainly have been killed had they blown themselves up, but by blanketing them he would have absorbed some of the blast and potentially saved the two SEAL s behind him. In the end, neither woman was wearing an explosive vest.
A second SEAL stepped into the room and trained the infrared laser of his M4 on bin Laden’s chest. The Al Qaeda chief, who was wearing a tan shalwar kameez and a prayer cap on his head, froze; he was unarmed. “There was never any question of detaining or capturing him—it wasn’t a split-second decision. No one wanted detainees,” the special-operations officer told me. (The Administration maintains that had bin Laden immediately surrendered he could have been taken alive.) Nine years, seven months, and twenty days after September 11th, an American was a trigger pull from ending bin Laden’s life. The first round, a 5.56-mm. bullet, struck bin Laden in the chest. As he fell backward, the SEAL fired a second round into his head, just above his left eye. On his radio, he reported, “For God and country—Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo.” After a pause, he added, “Geronimo E.K.I.A.”—“enemy killed in action.”
Hearing this at the White House, Obama pursed his lips, and said solemnly, to no one in particular, “We got him.”
Relaxing his hold on bin Laden’s two wives, the first SEAL placed the women in flex cuffs and led them downstairs. Two of his colleagues, meanwhile, ran upstairs with a nylon body bag. They unfurled it, knelt down on either side of bin Laden, and placed the body inside the bag. Eighteen minutes had elapsed since the DEVGRU team landed. For the next twenty minutes, the mission shifted to an intelligence-gathering operation.
Four men scoured the second floor, plastic bags in hand, collecting flash drives, CDs, DVDs, and computer hardware from the room, which had served, in part, as bin Laden’s makeshift media studio. In the coming weeks, a C.I.A.-led task force examined the files and determined that bin Laden had remained far more involved in the operational activities of Al Qaeda than many American officials had thought. He had been developing plans to assassinate Obama and Petraeus, to pull off an extravagant September 11th anniversary attack, and to attack American trains. The SEAL s also found an archive of digital pornography. “We find it on all these guys, whether they’re in Somalia, Iraq, or Afghanistan,” the special-operations officer said. Bin Laden’s gold-threaded robes, worn during his video addresses, hung behind a curtain in the media room.
Outside, the Americans corralled the women and children—each of them bound in flex cuffs—and had them sit against an exterior wall that faced the second, undamaged Black Hawk. The lone fluent Arabic speaker on the assault team questioned them. Nearly all the children were under the age of ten. They seemed to have no idea about the tenant upstairs, other than that he was “an old guy.” None of the women confirmed that the man was bin Laden, though one of them kept referring to him as “the sheikh.” When the rescue Chinook eventually arrived, a medic stepped out and knelt over the corpse. He injected a needle into bin Laden’s body and extracted two bone-marrow samples. More DNA was taken with swabs. One of the bone-marrow samples went into the Black Hawk. The other went into the Chinook, along with bin Laden’s body.
Next, the SEAL s needed to destroy the damaged Black Hawk. The pilot, armed with a hammer that he kept for such situations, smashed the instrument panel, the radio, and the other classified fixtures inside the cockpit. Then the demolition unit took over. They placed explosives near the avionics system, the communications gear, the engine, and the rotor head. “You’re not going to hide the fact that it’s a helicopter,” the special-operations officer said. “But you want to make it unusable.” The SEAL s placed extra C-4 charges under the carriage, rolled thermite grenades inside the copter’s body, and then backed up. Helo one burst into flames while the demolition team boarded the Chinook. The women and children, who were being left behind for the Pakistani authorities, looked puzzled, scared, and shocked as they watched the SEAL s board the helicopters. Amal, bin Laden’s wife, continued her harangue. Then, as a giant fire burned inside the compound walls, the Americans flew away.
In the Situation Room, Obama said, “I’m not going to be happy until those guys get out safe.” After thirty-eight minutes inside the compound, the two SEAL teams had to make the long flight back to Afghanistan. The Black Hawk was low on gas, and needed to rendezvous with the Chinook at the refuelling point that was near the Afghan border—but still inside Pakistan. Filling the gas tank took twenty-five minutes. At one point, Biden, who had been fingering a rosary, turned to Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman. “We should all go to Mass tonight,” he said.
The helicopters landed back in Jalalabad around 3 A.M .; McRaven and the C.I.A. station chief met the team on the tarmac. A pair of SEAL s unloaded the body bag and unzipped it so that McRaven and the C.I.A. officer could see bin Laden’s corpse with their own eyes. Photographs were taken of bin Laden’s face and then of his outstretched body. Bin Laden was believed to be about six feet four, but no one had a tape measure to confirm the body’s length. So one SEAL , who was six feet tall, lay beside the corpse: it measured roughly four inches longer than the American. Minutes later, McRaven appeared on the teleconference screen in the Situation Room and confirmed that bin Laden’s body was in the bag. The corpse was sent to Bagram.
All along, the SEAL s had planned to dump bin Laden’s corpse into the sea—a blunt way of ending the bin Laden myth. They had successfully pulled off a similar scheme before. During a DEVGRU helicopter raid inside Somalia in September, 2009, SEAL s had killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, one of East Africa’s top Al Qaeda leaders; Nabhan’s corpse was then flown to a ship in the Indian Ocean, given proper Muslim rites, and thrown overboard. Before taking that step for bin Laden, however, John Brennan made a call. Brennan, who had been a C.I.A. station chief in Riyadh, phoned a former counterpart in Saudi intelligence. Brennan told the man what had occurred in Abbottabad and informed him of the plan to deposit bin Laden’s remains at sea. As Brennan knew, bin Laden’s relatives were still a prominent family in the Kingdom, and Osama had once been a Saudi citizen. Did the Saudi government have any interest in taking the body? “Your plan sounds like a good one,” the Saudi replied.
At dawn, bin Laden was loaded into the belly of a flip-wing V-22 Osprey, accompanied by a JSOC liaison officer and a security detail of military police. The Osprey flew south, destined for the deck of the U.S.S. Carl Vinson—a thousand-foot-long nuclear-powered aircraft carrier sailing in the Arabian Sea, off the Pakistani coast. The Americans, yet again, were about to traverse Pakistani airspace without permission. Some officials worried that the Pakistanis, stung by the humiliation of the unilateral raid in Abbottabad, might restrict the Osprey’s access. The airplane ultimately landed on the Vinson without incident.
Bin Laden’s body was washed, wrapped in a white burial shroud, weighted, and then slipped inside a bag. The process was done “in strict conformance with Islamic precepts and practices,” Brennan later told reporters. The JSOC liaison, the military-police contingent, and several sailors placed the shrouded body on an open-air elevator, and rode down with it to the lower level, which functions as a hangar for airplanes. From a height of between twenty and twenty-five feet above the waves, they heaved the corpse into the water.
Back in Abbottabad, residents of Bilal Town and dozens of journalists converged on bin Laden’s compound, and the morning light clarified some of the confusion from the previous night. Black soot from the detonated Black Hawk charred the wall of the animal pen. Part of the tail hung over the wall. It was clear that a military raid had taken place there. “I’m glad no one was hurt in the crash, but, on the other hand, I’m sort of glad we left the helicopter there,” the special-operations officer said. “It quiets the conspiracy mongers out there and instantly lends credibility. You believe everything else instantly, because there’s a helicopter sitting there.”
After the raid, Pakistan’s political leadership engaged in frantic damage control. In the Washington Post, President Asif Ali Zardari wrote that bin Laden “was not anywhere we had anticipated he would be, but now he is gone,” adding that “a decade of cooperation and partnership between the United States and Pakistan led up to the elimination of Osama bin Laden.”
Pakistani military officials reacted more cynically. They arrested at least five Pakistanis for helping the C.I.A., including the physician who ran the immunization drive in Abbottabad. And several Pakistani media outlets, including the Nation—a jingoistic English-language newspaper that is considered a mouthpiece for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or I.S.I.—published what they claimed was the name of the C.I.A.’s station chief in Islamabad. (Shireen Mazari, a former editor of the Nation, once told me, “Our interests and the Americans’ interests don’t coincide.”) The published name was incorrect, and the C.I.A. officer opted to stay.
The proximity of bin Laden’s house to the Pakistan Military Academy raised the possibility that the military, or the I.S.I., had helped protect bin Laden. How could Al Qaeda’s chief live so close to the academy without at least some officers knowing about it? Suspicion grew after the Times reported that at least one cell phone recovered from bin Laden’s house contained contacts for senior militants belonging to Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, a jihadi group that has had close ties to the I.S.I. Although American officials have stated that Pakistani officials must have helped bin Laden hide in Abbottabad, definitive evidence has not yet been presented.
Bin Laden’s death provided the White House with the symbolic victory it needed to begin phasing troops out of Afghanistan. Seven weeks later, Obama announced a timetable for withdrawal. Even so, U.S. counterterrorism activities inside Pakistan—that is, covert operations conducted by the C.I.A. and JSOC —are not expected to diminish anytime soon. Since May 2nd, there have been more than twenty drone strikes in North and South Waziristan, including one that allegedly killed Ilyas Kashmiri, a top Al Qaeda leader, while he was sipping tea in an apple orchard.
The success of the bin Laden raid has sparked a conversation inside military and intelligence circles: Are there other terrorists worth the risk of another helicopter assault in a Pakistani city? “There are people out there that, if we could find them, we would go after them,” Cartwright told me. He mentioned Ayman al-Zawahiri, the new leader of Al Qaeda, who is believed to be in Pakistan, and Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric in Yemen. Cartwright emphasized that “going after them” didn’t necessarily mean another DEVGRU raid. The special-operations officer spoke more boldly. He believes that a precedent has been set for more unilateral raids in the future. “Folks now realize we can weather it,” he said. The senior adviser to the President said that “penetrating other countries’ sovereign airspace covertly is something that’s always available for the right mission and the right gain.” Brennan told me, “The confidence we have in the capabilities of the U.S. military is, without a doubt, even stronger after this operation.”
On May 6th, Al Qaeda confirmed bin Laden’s death and released a statement congratulating “the Islamic nation” on “the martyrdom of its good son Osama.” The authors promised Americans that “their joy will turn to sorrow and their tears will mix with blood.” That day, President Obama travelled to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where the 160th is based, to meet the DEVGRU unit and the pilots who pulled off the raid. The SEAL s, who had returned home from Afghanistan earlier in the week, flew in from Virginia. Biden, Tom Donilon, and a dozen other national-security advisers came along.
McRaven greeted Obama on the tarmac. (They had met at the White House a few days earlier—the President had presented McRaven with a tape measure.) McRaven led the President and his team into a one-story building on the other side of the base. They walked into a windowless room with shabby carpets, fluorescent lights, and three rows of metal folding chairs. McRaven, Brian, the pilots from the 160th, and James took turns briefing the President. They had set up a three-dimensional model of bin Laden’s compound on the floor and, waving a red laser pointer, traced their maneuvers inside. A satellite image of the compound was displayed on a wall, along with a map showing the flight routes into and out of Pakistan. The briefing lasted about thirty-five minutes. Obama wanted to know how Ahmed had kept locals at bay; he also inquired about the fallen Black Hawk and whether above-average temperatures in Abbottabad had contributed to the crash. (The Pentagon is conducting a formal investigation of the accident.)
When James, the squadron commander, spoke, he started by citing all the forward operating bases in eastern Afghanistan that had been named for SEAL s killed in combat. “Everything we have done for the last ten years prepared us for this,” he told Obama. The President was “in awe of these guys,” Ben Rhodes, the deputy national-security adviser, who travelled with Obama, said. “It was an extraordinary base visit,” he added. “They knew he had staked his Presidency on this. He knew they staked their lives on it.”
As James talked about the raid, he mentioned Cairo’s role. “There was a dog?” Obama interrupted. James nodded and said that Cairo was in an adjoining room, muzzled, at the request of the Secret Service.
“I want to meet that dog,” Obama said.
“If you want to meet the dog, Mr. President, I advise you to bring treats,” James joked. Obama went over to pet Cairo, but the dog’s muzzle was left on.
Afterward, Obama and his advisers went into a second room, down the hall, where others involved in the raid—including logisticians, crew chiefs, and SEAL alternates—had assembled. Obama presented the team with a Presidential Unit Citation and said, “Our intelligence professionals did some amazing work. I had fifty-fifty confidence that bin Laden was there, but I had one-hundred-per-cent confidence in you guys. You are, literally, the finest small-fighting force that has ever existed in the world.” The raiding team then presented the President with an American flag that had been on board the rescue Chinook. Measuring three feet by five, the flag had been stretched, ironed, and framed. The SEAL s and the pilots had signed it on the back; an inscription on the front read, “From the Joint Task Force Operation Neptune’s Spear, 01 May 2011: ‘For God and country. Geronimo.’ ” Obama promised to put the gift “somewhere private and meaningful to me.” Before the President returned to Washington, he posed for photographs with each team member and spoke with many of them, but he left one thing unsaid. He never asked who fired the kill shot, and the SEAL s never volunteered to tell him. ♦ | – President Obama took such a cautious approach to killing Osama bin Laden that he actually canceled the mission three times at the urging of advisor Valerie Jarrett, according to an upcoming book. In Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him, author Richard Miniter writes that Obama even delayed the mission the day before May 2, 2011, when Navy SEALs finally carried it out, the Daily Caller reports. “President Obama’s greatest success was actually his greatest failure,” says Miniter. But the White House is calling Miniter's version of events "an utter fabrication," reports Politico. "It's seems pretty clear that Mr. Miniter doesn't know what he's talking about," said a White House rep. And a report at Media Matters notes that Miniter's version doesn't jibe with the New Yorker's "deep dive" into the bin Laden raid. | [
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Gwyneth Paltrow, the actress and founder of online lifestyle brand Goop, thinks that nasty, anonymous online commenters should take a look at themselves first before they post.
“The Internet is an amazing opportunity, socially. We have this opportunity to mature and learn, which is the essence of being on earth — to being the closest person we can be to our actual, real, truest self,” she said ahead of her surprise appearance at the Code Conference today. “But the Internet also allows us the opportunity to project outward our hatred, our jealousy. It’s culturally acceptable to be an anonymous commenter. It’s culturally acceptable to say, ‘I’m just going to take all of my internal pain and externalize it anonymously.'”
Of all the celebrities out there, Paltrow receives a particularly curious reception online, and she’s well aware of it. She is beloved and obsessed-over (the success of her Goop project comes largely from people wanting to live like her, have lunch in Paris or moisturize their bodies like she would).
At the same time, there seems to be some frustration and even aggression aroused by her lanky-blonde-perfect-frittata persona. Consider a recent headline: “Gwyneth Paltrow Joins Instagram, Will Probably Do This Better Than the Rest of Us, Too.”
In February, the newly hired editor of anonymous image-sharing site Whisper promoted one of his company’s user-submitted posts that included a picture of Paltrow’s face overlaid with text alleging that she was having an affair, an image that then went viral.
“It’s taken me a long time to get to the point where I can see these things and not take it as a personal affront and a hurt. I see myself as a chalkboard or a whiteboard or a screen, and someone is just putting up their own projection on it,” she said.
“It has nothing to do with me. They have an internal object, and they’re putting it on me. I kind of look at it as, ‘Wow this is an interesting social experiment.’ You’re talking about a blind stranger having feelings about you. It can only be projection.”
The conversation about celebrity and the Internet, she said, is part of a larger one about “containment and self-regulation” online.
“Our culture is trying to wrestle with the idea that everybody has a voice, and how it’s unimportant and really important at the same time,” said Paltrow. “We’re in this very adolescent phase. It’s dangerous, [because] we lack the capacity to say, ‘Why does this matter to me, and who am I in this?’ ‘Why am I having opinions about Angelina Jolie’s operation?’ ‘What is unhealed in me?’ ‘Why am I using the Internet to do this?'”
She compared the experience of living through vitriolic Internet commenters to surviving a war.
“You come across [online comments] about yourself and about your friends, and it’s a very dehumanizing thing. It’s almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing, and then something is defined out of it,” she said. “My hope is, as we get out of it, we’ll reach the next level of conscience.”
This year may be a tipping point for Internet trolls, she hopes: “It’s almost like we’re being given this test: Can you regulate yourself? Can you grow from this? Can you learn? You can make it as bloody as you want to, but is that the point?”
And yet, for Paltrow, the Internet can also be a source of great good. Though the Goop team won’t disclose specific details, Paltrow said her e-commerce business is profitable, and that the “open rate” (meaning subscribers that actually open Goop emails) for the Goop newsletter, which reaches people in 120 different countries, is more than double the industry average.
“I started it across all those categories kind of by accident. But it set me up really well to have a lifestyle brand,” she said. “I have big goals in mind for what I want it to be. I finally have been able to find the self-confidence that I really can do this, and I’m doing it.”
Paltrow said she was initially hesitant about speaking at the Code Conference, where she would be onstage among tech CEOs.
“At first, I thought, wow, I don’t belong in this group. But, you know, I’m really excited about my Web business and where we are with it,” she said. “I think we’re achieving a new or newish paradigm — and we’re actually achieving it — this mix of content and commerce.”
Her goal for Goop this year is to “do more of it, and do it better,” she said. So far, Paltrow has not yet taken venture capital for her site, where posts are signed “Love, gp.” Instead, she said she has used her own money, as well as “my blood, sweat and tears.”
“When I look at new companies, we’re kind of the opposite of, let’s just build it, build it quick and sell it,” said Paltrow. “Because my name is so attached to it — because it really is mine — it’s important that it be something real.” ||||| BEImages/Matt Baron
Well, this could all get a bit meta if any of you leave comments that are in any way negative on this post, but—here goes! Last night, Gwyneth Paltrow—Goop Overlord, Conscious Uncoupler—made a surprise appearance at the inaugural Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, alongside the likes of Sergey Brin and Satya Nadella. (The conference is co-run by Vanity Fair contributing editor Kara Swisher.)
Paltrow has had great success with her weekly Goop newsletter (its “open rate”—that is, the percentage of subscribers who actually open her missives—is, according to Paltrow, “more than double the industry average”), and her e-commerce business is currently turning a profit. But while Paltrow sees the great opportunities available thanks to the Internet, and has clearly reaped the benefit of such, she told Re/code, the tech-news site hosting the conference, that she was also keenly aware of the Internet’s dark underbelly: comment threads.
“The Internet is an amazing opportunity, socially. We have this opportunity to mature and learn, which is the essence of being on Earth—to being the closest person we can be to our actual, real, truest self,” she said. “But the Internet also allows us the opportunity to project outward our hatred, our jealousy. It’s culturally acceptable to be an anonymous commenter. It’s culturally acceptable to say, ‘I’m just going to take all of my internal pain and externalize it anonymously.’”
Does this mean Gwyneth actually reads the thousands of posts written about her each week? Gwyn, are you reading this right now!??!? (If so, hi! Uh, that “Gwyneth Responds to Chris Martin Lyrics” post from last week was all in good fun! Also, want to meet up for some bruschetta and white wine? You can pick the place and time. Do you eat bruschetta?! Is bruschetta healthy?! We know you won’t answer these questions in the comments, clearly, but e-mail us, maybe?)
Paltrow went on to say that she has become somewhat immune to the onslaught of comments.
“It’s taken me a long time to get to the point where I can see these things and not take it as a personal affront and a hurt. I see myself as a chalkboard or a whiteboard or a screen, and someone is just putting up their own projection on it,” she said. “It has nothing to do with me. They have an internal object, and they’re putting it on me. I kind of look at it as, ‘Wow this is an interesting social experiment.’ You’re talking about a blind stranger having feelings about you. It can only be projection.”
The experience of reading about herself online over the years is analogous to what it’s like for veterans of war, she reportedly said.
“You come across [online comments] about yourself and about your friends, and it’s a very dehumanizing thing. It’s almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing, and then something is defined out of it,” she said. “My hope is, as we get out of it, we’ll reach the next level of conscience.”
So, the next time you’re about to leave an anonymous, caps-lock comment on a Kim Kardashian photo post, imagine a mini-Gwyneth on your shoulder, drinking a mini-kale smoothie, shaking her head. We’ll all be on that next level of conscience in no time. ||||| Gwyneth Paltrow isn't who you'd expect to speak at a big tech conference featuring Microsoft and Google honchos. But on Tuesday, she gave a short and impassioned speech about the dark side of the Internet.
The actress was the surprise guest at Re/Code's Code Conference outside of Los Angeles. She spoke about the anonymity of the Internet — and its ability to allow "objectification and dehumanization" of others, especially celebrities.
"It's like the scabs from your high-school wounds being ripped off on a daily basis," Paltrow said.
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow was a surprise speaker at the Code Conference on Tuesday. Asa Mathat / Re/code
A visibly nervous Paltrow started off self-deprecating — she promised that she wouldn't talk about Javascript or Ruby On Rails — but she relaxed as she went on about the effect Internet trolls have had on her life and those of her celebrity friends.
Paltrow acknowledged that some abuse goes along with being a public figure: "When you go back through history, it's always happened. From a spiritual leader to Katharine Hepburn ..."
But the nature of the Internet adds a disturbing layer, she said. Paltrow gave one chilling example: A celebrity friend who posted a "normal photo" on Instagram received a comment from a user who expressed a desire to "rape and disembowel" her.
Paltrow, who specifically slammed Facebook for its "foundation of objectification," didn't go into many details about the online abuse she herself has taken.
But in February, a user of the anonymous secrets-sharing app Whisper posted a message alleging that Paltrow was cheating on husband Chris Martin — a claim that her rep quickly denied. The following month, Paltrow earned Internet scorn for calling her separation from Martin a "conscious uncoupling."
"At a certain point when you've been made fun of and excoriated and dragged through the mud ... for 20 years ... you realize it's not really about you," Paltrow said.
Instead, Paltrow said, she has accepted she "cannot be more than an external representation" of whatever hurts the trolls keep inside themselves.
Paltrow said she thinks about how her children will grow up in an online world, and wonders: "Perhaps the Internet has been brought to us as a test of our own emotional evolution."
Paltrow hopes that evolution will bring changes to the Internet and the way we live online.
"It's no accident that as the Internet grows, and the voices get softer and softer because there are so many of them ... we're drawn to authenticity." | – Gwyneth Paltrow ... tech expert? The actress spoke at the Code Conference yesterday, rubbing elbows with tech CEOs, thanks to her Web business, Goop. Before her surprise appearance, she talked to re/code (the tech news site hosting the conference, Vanity Fair notes) about Goop (it's profitable, though she won't give exact numbers, and the "open rate" for her newsletter emails is more than double the industry average), but she also spoke quite a bit about mean online commenters on the Internet. One quote that's getting her some negative attention: "You come across [online comments] about yourself and about your friends, and it’s a very dehumanizing thing. It’s almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing, and then something is defined out of it. My hope is, as we get out of it, we’ll reach the next level of conscience." The quote, of course, led to headlines like "Gwyneth Paltrow: Celebrities Who Have Dealt with Mean Internet Comments Are Almost Like War Veterans." (Even re/code acknowledged that Paltrow "compared the experience of living through vitriolic Internet commenters to surviving a war.") NBC News notes that her actual speech focused on the same themes, but her comparison there wasn't as dramatic: She said reading mean comments was like having "the scabs from your high-school wounds being ripped off on a daily basis." (Paltrow's last ill-advised comment had to do with working moms.) | [
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CANNES, France — Harry Shearer is suing Vivendi’s Universal Music Group and Studiocanal for $125 million for allegedly fraudulent accounting of the music revenues from Rob Reiner’s 1984 film “This is Spinal Tap.”
Shearer, who co-created and starred in the classic mockumentary, is seeking $125 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
“This is Spinal Tap” follows the legendary British heavy metal band Spinal Tap as they organize a comeback tour. The spoof was created by Shearer, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Rob Reiner.
Shearer, who co-wrote the soundtrack to the film, filed suit in the Central District Court of California on Tuesday over the alleged underpayment of music royalties. The lawsuit says that Vivendi reported only $98 in total income from soundtrack music sales between 1989 and 2006. As far as worldwide merchandising income, Vivendi reported only $81 between 1984 and 2006, the lawsuit says.
Vivendi has “failed and refused, and continues to fail and refuse, to provide Plaintiff with proper and accurate accountings reflecting the amount of revenues derived from the distribution and exploitation of the Film and associated music and merchandise rights,” the complaint alleges. ||||| The interactive transcript could not be loaded.
Rating is available when the video has been rented.
This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| Harry Shearer alleges parent company of Universal Music and StudioCanal withheld millions of dollars in profits owed to creators of rock mockumentary
This is Spinal Tap star sues Vivendi for $125m in profits row
This is Spinal Tap star Harry Shearer is suing Vivendi, the parent company of Universal Music and StudioCanal, alleging it has withheld millions of dollars in profits owed to the creators of the cult 80s rock mockumentary.
Shearer, who co-wrote the film and soundtrack and starred as bassist Derek Smalls, has lodged the legal action at the Central District Court of California.
Shearer, who has voiced 23 characters on The Simpsons including Ned Flanders and Mr Burns, is claiming $125m (£102m) in compensatory and punitive damages from the French conglomerate.
Vivendi acquired the rights to This is Spinal Tap, through its subsidiary StudioCanal, in 1989.
Shearer claims that since then, profits from This is Spinal Tap have not been fairly shared between its four creators, cast or crew.
“This is a simple issue of artists’ rights,” said Shearer. “It is stunning that after all this time, two cinema releases, all the various home-video format releases, all the records and CDs, and all the band-themed merchandise still widely available worldwide, the only people who haven’t shared Spinal Tap’s success are those who formed the band and created the film in the first place.”
Harry Shearer (@theharryshearer) I’m going up against @vivendi and @studiocanal to ensure #fairplayfairpay for the movie #SpinalTap - #fairnessrocks pic.twitter.com/fTG23OMbsW
This is Spinal Tap was created by Shearer, Christopher Guest, who went on to co-write and direct dog competition mockumentary Best in Show, Rob Reiner and Michael McKean.
The legal complaint alleges that between 1989 and 2006, Vivendi reported that the total income from soundtrack music sales was just $98.
And in addition, it claims Vivendi reported that the four creators’ share of total worldwide merchandising income between 1984 and 2006 was $81.
The lawsuit names Ron Halpern, who has been in charge of international productions and acquisitions for StudioCanal since 2007, as a co-defendant in the claim. Vivendi’s agents are named as StudioCanal and Universal Music.
“Though I’ve launched this lawsuit on my own, it is in reality a challenge to the company on behalf of all creators of popular films whose talent has not been fairly remunerated,” said Shearer. “I hope this lawsuit will help set a new precedent for … fair artistic compensation industry-wide.”
In 1982, the four co-creators signed an agreement with Embassy Pictures for the production, financing and distribution of This is Spinal Tap.
Shearer claims the agreement included profit participation payments at 40% of net receipts bases on all sources of revenue, including merchandise and music.
The film, which had a shoe-string budget of $2.25m, was released in 1984 and became a global cult classic.
Vivendi acquired the rights to Spinal Tap in 1989, and Shearer’s legal action claims it began a “concerted and fraudulent campaign to hide, or grossly underreport, the film’s revenues in order to avoid its profit participation obligations”.
A Vivendi spokesman declined to comment on the legal action. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Shearer accuses Vivendi of using "blatantly unfair business practices"
Harry Shearer is taking legal action against entertainment group Vivendi, claiming it has denied him and others profits from 1984's This is Spinal Tap.
Shearer alleges that Vivendi, which acquired the film in 1989, engaged in fraud to hide revenues.
The Simpsons actor is seeking $125m (£102m) in compensatory and punitive damages.
Vivendi's UK representative declined to comment when asked to do so by the BBC News website.
"I think it's important to challenge the status quo, not just for myself but for all my fellow artists, musicians and creators," Shearer, 72, said in a video posted on Twitter.
His legal action claims that, "according to Vivendi", the four creators' share of merchandising income between 1984 and 2006 was just $81 (£66).
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Shearer appears as 'Derek Smalls' in the film and when playing with Spinal Tap
Directed by Rob Reiner, This is Spinal Tap followed the misfortunes of a fictional British rock band as it promotes its latest record.
Shearer, who also voices Simpsons characters as Mr Burns and Ned Flanders, said he, Reiner and the film and band's other creators - Christopher Guest and Michael McKean - had "poured themselves into nurturing and perfecting the paean to rock loudness that has entertained so many people".
Despite the film's success, he said, the four had fallen victim to "fuzzy... entertainment industry accounting schemes" that also had affected others in the industry.
"It is stunning that after all this time... the only people who haven't shared Spinal Tap's success are those who formed the band and created the film in the first place," he added.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Christopher Guest discusses This is Spinal Tap on Radio 4's Today programme
Shearer accuses Vivendi of "wilfully manipulating certain accounting data" and "ignoring contractually-obligated accounting and reporting processes".
"Vivendi and its subsidiaries... have, at least in our case, conducted blatantly unfair business practices," he went on, referencing StudioCanal and Universal Music Group.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk. | – One of the makers of This Is Spinal Tap is suing entertainment group Vivendi, claiming the company is hiding millions from those who made the film possible. Harry Shearer—perhaps better known as the guy who voices dozens of Simpsons characters—co-created the 1984 film along with Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest and also co-wrote its soundtrack and starred as bassist Derek Smalls, reports Variety. He claims the four creators were promised 40% of net receipts from all sources of revenue, but he accuses Vivendi—which acquired the rights to the film in 1989—of a "concerted and fraudulent campaign to hide, or grossly underreport, the film's revenues in order to avoid its profit participation obligations," per the Guardian. In particular, Shearer, who is seeking $125 million, says Vivendi claimed just $98 from soundtrack sales between 1989 and 2006, and $81 from global merchandising income from 1984 to 2006. Vivendi has "failed and refused, and continues to fail and refuse, to provide [Shearer] with proper and accurate accountings reflecting the amount of revenues," reads the complaint filed at the Central District Court of California on Monday. "The only people who haven't shared Spinal Tap's success are those who formed the band and created the film in the first place," adds Shearer, noting his suit is "on behalf of all creators of popular films whose talent has not been fairly remunerated." Vivendi declined to comment, per the BBC. | [
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A plume of smoke emits from a fire that broke out at a Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, California August 6, 2012.
A plume of smoke emits from a fire that broke out at a Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, California August 6, 2012.
RICHMOND/HOUSTON (Reuters) - A massive fire struck at the core of Chevron Corp's large Richmond, California, refinery on Monday, spewing flames and a column of smoke into the air, threatening a prolonged outage that may increase prices of the costliest U.S. gasoline.
The fire was contained, but not extinguished, according to the company. The fire has blazed for hours after it erupted at the refinery in a densely populated industrial suburb of San Francisco. Smoke could be seen billowing over the Bay Area and four train stations were shut.
Nearby residents were ordered indoors after the fire hit the sole crude unit at the 245,000 barrel per day (bpd) plant, which accounts for one-eighth of California state's refining capacity. About 200 people have sought medical help, complaining of respiratory problems, the San Pablo, California-based Doctors Medical Center said in a statement.
The fire had started in the No. 4 crude unit, the only one at the plant, at 6:15 p.m. shortly after a leak was discovered, Chevron said. As the leak grew, workers were evacuated, plant manager Nigel Hearn told journalists at the site. He said some units were still operating, but gave no details.
It was not immediately clear when the fire would be put out and the extent of damage to the plant was not known.
"I walked outside and saw what looked like a lot of steam coming out of Chevron, way more than usual. I thought they must have blown a boiler," said Ryan Lackay, a 45-year-old employee at a chemical plant next door to the refinery.
"And then all of a sudden it just went whoosh, it ignited."
Crude distillation units (CDUs) break down oil into feedstock for other units in a refinery. It can take months to repair a CDU at a large plant, during which operations are typically severely limited.
Any lengthy disruption in production could affect the supply of fuel in the West Coast, particularly gasoline, due to the difficulty in meeting California's super-clean specifications. The region also has few immediate alternative supply sources.
"Chevron will have a hard time finding replacement barrels in an already short market," said Bob van der Valk, a petroleum industry analyst in Terry, Montana.
"Refineries are already drawing down summer blend inventory in anticipation of the switch back to winter blend gasoline."
TOWERING FLAMES, BLACK SMOKE
Residents of Richmond were advised to "shelter in place", an order often given during refinery accidents to shield against possible exposure to toxic chemicals or smoke. Sulfuric acid and nitrogen dioxide were released during the incident, according to a filing with the California Emergency Management Agency.
The refinery, the third largest in California and among the oldest in the country, is key to the economy of Richmond, a declining industrial city. But it has stirred controversy among local residents concerned about the environmental impacts and local politicians often seeking more tax revenues.
"I looked out the window and saw 40 foot flames and black smoke," Marc Mowrey, a Point Richmond resident who lives about a mile from the plant, said in a telephone interview.
He said the smell was not exceptional or very different from other days, but a huge plume of smoke was sitting over Richmond and neighboring El Cerrito.
Chevron said in a statement that there had been only one minor injury at the refinery, which at its peak 10 years ago employed over 1,300 people on a site of over 2,900 acres.
Last week, the refinery reported vapor leaks and a compressor failure to California pollution regulators, according to notices. The notices did not say which units were involved.
We are "very disappointed that this happened, and apologize that we are inconveniencing our neighbors," Chevron spokesman Walt Gill told local television.
A Reuters reporter who lives nearby said he heard some loud bangs and a siren as the fire erupted, but a Chevron spokesman denied reports of an explosion.
It is common to shut down the entire plant in the event of a major blaze. A February 17 fire at the CDU of BP Plc's 225,000 bpd Cherry Point, Washington, refinery led to a three-month shutdown and sent the regional price premium to more than $1 a gallon in some places.
(Additional reporting by Noel Randewich, Jonathan Weber in San Francisco, Manash Goswami in Singapore; Editing by Miral Fahmy) ||||| Residents living near Richmond, California, are being told to stay inside and shut their windows after a fire erupted at a Chevron oil refinery. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Updated at 8:05 a.m. ET: A massive fire struck at the core of Chevron's large Richmond, Calif., refinery on Monday, spewing flames and a column of smoke into the air, and threatening a prolonged outage that may increase prices of U.S. gasoline.
The fire was contained by 11 p.m. (2 a.m. ET), according to the company. The fire blazed for hours after it erupted at the refinery in a densely populated industrial suburb east of San Francisco. Smoke could be seen billowing over the Bay Area and four train stations were shut.
Thousands of local residents were ordered to stay indoors and shut all windows and doors after the fire hit the sole crude unit at the 245,000 barrel per day plant, which accounts for one-eighth of California state's refining capacity. But that order was later lifted.
"I heard a big boom ... then the alarms started going off," 23-year-old local resident Daniela Rodriguez told the Contra Costa Times.
"I was getting kind of scared. I went into my backyard and could see a big, dark gray cloud. I saw it was coming from where the refinery is, so I told my mom to lock the windows," the newspaper quoted her as saying.
Read more about this story on NBCBayArea.com
The plume from the fire reached an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 feet above ground level, officials said at a news conference, according to the Times.
No fatalities
All workers had been accounted for and no fatalities were reported, but one employee was treated at an on-site clinic for burns to his wrist, the San Francisco Chronicle said.
About 200 people have sought medical help, complaining of respiratory problems, the San Pablo, Calif.-based Doctors Medical Center said in a statement.
"They told me I'm not going to die, but it sure feels pretty serious," 21-year-old Richmond resident Julius Bailey told the Chronicle after seeing a doctor for respiratory complaints at Kaiser’s Richmond Medical Center.
The fire had started in the No. 4 crude unit, the only one at the plant, at 6:15 p.m. shortly after a leak was discovered, Chevron said.
As the leak grew, workers were evacuated, plant manager Nigel Hearn told journalists at the site. He said some units were still operating, but gave no details.
Complete US news coverage on NBCNews.com
Supply could be affected
Any lengthy disruption in production could affect the supply of fuel in the West Coast, particularly gasoline, due to the difficulty in meeting California's super-clean specifications. The region also has few immediate alternative supply sources.
"Chevron will have a hard time finding replacement barrels in an already short market," said Bob van der Valk, a petroleum industry analyst in Terry, Mont.
"Refineries are already drawing down summer blend inventory in anticipation of the switch back to winter blend gasoline," he said.
Residents of Richmond were advised to "shelter in place", an order often given during refinery accidents to shield against possible exposure to toxic chemicals or smoke. Sulfuric acid and nitrogen dioxide were released during the incident, according to a filing with the California Emergency Management Agency.
"We heard the sirens go off and I said, 'Thunderdome blew,'" Richmond resident Emmett Zediker told the Times.
Josh Edelson / Reuters Firefighters douse flames at the Chevron oil refinery in in Richmond, Calif., on Monday.
"We call Chevron 'Thunderdome' because when it blows, it blows. So we cracked open a bottle of vintage wine and we are having an apocalypse party," the Times quoted him as saying.
Key to local economy
The refinery, the third-largest in California and among the oldest in the country, is key to the economy of Richmond, a declining industrial city. But it has stirred controversy among local residents concerned about the environmental impacts and local politicians often seeking more tax revenues.
"I looked out the window and saw 40 foot flames and black smoke," Marc Mowrey, a Point Richmond resident who lives about a mile from the plant, said in a telephone interview.
Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com
He said the smell was not exceptional or very different from other days, but a huge plume of smoke was sitting over Richmond and neighboring El Cerrito.
At its peak 10 years ago, the refinery employed over 1,300 people on a site of over 2,900 acres.
Last week, the refinery reported vapor leaks and a compressor failure to California pollution regulators, according to notices. The notices did not say which units were involved.
Fire breaks out after explosion at Okla. oil refinery
We are "very disappointed that this happened, and apologize that we are inconveniencing our neighbors," Chevron spokesman Walt Gill told local television.
A Reuters reporter who lives nearby said he heard some loud bangs and a siren as the fire erupted, but a Chevron spokesman denied reports of an explosion.
In 2006, an explosion at the plant sent hundreds of people to the hospital. Incidents also occurred in 1999 and 2007.
It is common to shut down the entire plant in the event of a major blaze. A Feb. 17 fire at the crude installation units of BP's 225,000-bpd Cherry Point, Wash., refinery led to a three-month shutdown and sent the regional price premium to more than $1 a gallon in some places.
Read Chevron's official statements on the incident
Reuters and NBC News staff contributed to this report.
More content from NBCNews.com:
Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook ||||| Fire at Chevron refinery in Richmond East Bay residents told to stay inside as thick smoke spews into sky from Chevron plant
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gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-3294244|article-gallery-3767221|29 Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close gallery_thumbnails_show|article-gallery-3767221|article-gallery-3767221|0 gallery_overlay_open|article-gallery-3767221|article-gallery-3767221|0 gallery_overlay_open_thumbs|article-gallery-3767221|article-gallery-3767221|0 Image 1 of 30 Smoke from the Chevron refinery fills the sky above Richmond after a series of explosions beginning around 6:15 p.m. No one was killed, Chevron said. Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle Smoke from the Chevron refinery fills the sky above Richmond after... Image 2 of 30 Smoke from a Chevron Oil refinery fire fills the sky above Richmond Calif, Monday August 6, 2012. Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle Smoke from a Chevron Oil refinery fire fills the sky above Richmond... Image 3 of 30 Above: Residents stand atop a guardrail to get a view of the fire. People in the area were repeatedly warned to stay inside to avoid breathing tainted air. Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle Above: Residents stand atop a guardrail to get a view of the fire.... Image 4 of 30 Plumes of smoke emanate from the Chevron oil refinery on Monday, August 6, 2012 in Richmond, Calif. Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Plumes of smoke emanate from the Chevron oil refinery on Monday,... Image 5 of 30 Marce Gutierrez, of Hercules, watches of plumes of smoke emanate from the Chevron oil refinery on Monday, August 6, 2012 in Richmond, Calif. "I'm just trying to figure out if we need to leave," Gutierrez said. Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Marce Gutierrez, of Hercules, watches of plumes of smoke emanate... Image 6 of 30 Andres Locky takes a photo of himself in front of plumes of smoke emanating from the Chevron oil refinery on Monday, August 6, 2012 in Richmond, Calif. Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Andres Locky takes a photo of himself in front of plumes of smoke... Image 7 of 30 Chevron oil refinery, Richmond Chevron oil refinery, Richmond Image 8 of 30 Elizabeth Fein, of El Cerrito, takes a photo of plumes of smoke emanating from the Chevron oil refinery on Monday, August 6, 2012 in Richmond, Calif. Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Elizabeth Fein, of El Cerrito, takes a photo of plumes of smoke... Image 9 of 30 Fire at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond as seen from the Berkeley Marina on Monday August 6th, 2012. Photo: Will Kane, San Francisco Chronicle Fire at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond as seen from the Berkeley... Image 10 of 30 Fire at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond as seen from Tiburon, Calif. on Monday August 6th, 2012. Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle Fire at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond as seen from Tiburon,... Image 11 of 30 Fire at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond as seen from Tiburon, Calif. on Monday August 6th, 2012. Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle Fire at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond as seen from Tiburon,... Image 12 of 30 A fire in is seen at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, Calif. Photo: Courtesy Tom Butt A fire in is seen at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, Calif. Image 13 of 30 A fire in is seen at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, Calif. Photo: Courtesy Tom Butt A fire in is seen at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, Calif. Image 14 of 30 Smoke from a fire at the Chevron Refinery fills the sky on August 6, 2012. Photo: Sonja Och, The Chronicle Smoke from a fire at the Chevron Refinery fills the sky on August... Image 15 of 30 Smoke from a fire at the Chevron Refinery fills the sky on August 6, 2012. Photo: Sonja Och, The Chronicle Smoke from a fire at the Chevron Refinery fills the sky on August... Image 16 of 30 Fire crews battle the Chevron refinery fire in Richmond on Aug. 6, 2012. Photo: Lance Iversen / The Chronicle Fire crews battle the Chevron refinery fire in Richmond on Aug. 6,... Image 17 of 30 Smoke from the fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond is seen from Benicia, Calif., on August 6, 2012. Photo: Courtesy Nate Kane Smoke from the fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond is seen... Image 18 of 30 Fire at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond as seen from the Berkeley Marina on Monday August 6th, 2012. Photo: Will Kane, San Francisco Chronicle Fire at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond as seen from the Berkeley... Image 19 of 30 Nigel Hearne, manager of Chevron's Richmond refinery, says the fire was started when a diesel leak ignited. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Nigel Hearne, manager of Chevron's Richmond refinery, says the fire... Image 20 of 30 Smoke and fire from the Chevron Oil Refinery fire as seen in Richmond, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Smoke and fire from the Chevron Oil Refinery fire as seen in... Image 21 of 30 Smoke and fire raises from the Chevron Oil Refinery fire n Richmond, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Smoke and fire raises from the Chevron Oil Refinery fire n... Image 22 of 30 A fire engine drives on Castro Street toward the Chevron Oil Refinery fire in Richmond, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle A fire engine drives on Castro Street toward the Chevron Oil... Image 23 of 30 John Smith, of Richmond, watches the Chevron Oil Refinery fire from a distance through a fence on Castro Road in Richmond, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle John Smith, of Richmond, watches the Chevron Oil Refinery fire from... Image 24 of 30 A group of teenagers watches smoke and fire from the Chevron Oil Refinery fire in Richmond, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle A group of teenagers watches smoke and fire from the Chevron Oil... Image 25 of 30 Smoke and fire from the Chevron Oil Refinery fire as seen in Richmond, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Smoke and fire from the Chevron Oil Refinery fire as seen in... Image 26 of 30 Flames and smoke shoot up from the Chevron refinery, a fixture in Richmond for more than a century. Photo: John Sebastian Russo, Special To The Chronicle Flames and smoke shoot up from the Chevron refinery, a fixture in... Image 27 of 30 Smoke bellows from a fire at the Chevron refinery following an explosion at 6:30 on Monday, August 6, 2012 in Richmond, Calif. Photo: John Sebastian Russo, Special To The Chronicle Smoke bellows from a fire at the Chevron refinery following an... Image 28 of 30 Smoke bellows from a fire at the Chevron refinery following an explosion at 6:30 on Monday, August 6, 2012 in Richmond, Calif. Photo: John Sebastian Russo, Special To The Chronicle Smoke bellows from a fire at the Chevron refinery following an... Image 29 of 30 Smoke bellows from a fire at the Chevron refinery following an explosion at 6:30 on Monday, August 6, 2012 in Richmond, Calif. Photo: John Sebastian Russo, Special To The Chronicle Smoke bellows from a fire at the Chevron refinery following an... Image 30 of 30 Fire at Chevron refinery in Richmond 1 / 30 Back to Gallery gallery_thumbs_close|article-gallery-3767221|article-gallery-3767221|0 gallery_overlay_close|article-gallery-3767221|article-gallery-3767221|0
Thousands of East Bay residents were ordered to stay in their homes with the windows and doors closed Monday night after a series of explosions and fires tore through Chevron's Richmond refinery.
The explosions started about 6:15 p.m., and at least two large fires spewed thick, black smoke into the darkening sky.
The fire started at the refinery's No. 4 Crude Unit, Chevron officials said. Just before 6:30 p.m., an inspection crew discovered that there was a diesel leak in a line in the unit - and that the leak was growing.
Shortly after the crew evacuated the area, the diesel ignited, said Nigel Hearne, manager of the refinery.
All employees had been accounted for and there were no fatalities, but one refinery worker suffered burns to his wrist and was treated at the on-site clinic.
About five minutes after the explosions, sirens tore through the air, alerting residents to stay indoors to prevent breathing tainted air. Some people got in their cars and drove away from the smoke that spread throughout the neighborhoods east of the refinery.
"Everybody evacuated so fast people's car alarms were going off," said Sara Monares, 55, who lives a short distance from the refinery.
Health officials' main concern was fumes from crude oil and diesel fuel, but winds were carrying the smoke and pollutants skyward, said Maria Duazo, a hazardous materials specialist with the Contra Costa County Health Services Department.
A shelter-in-place warning was issued for Richmond, North Richmond and San Pablo and remained in effect late Monday. An advisory for those with lung conditions or a sensitivity to smoke to stay indoors was expanded to all of Contra Costa County. Residents as far away as the Oakland hills were being warned by police about smoke heading that way.
Air samples taken
As the smoke stretched out over the El Cerrito hills, Contra Costa County hazardous materials units rolled through the neighborhoods, taking air samples.
Trisha Asuncion, hazardous materials specialist with Contra Costa County, said that no hazardous compounds had been detected in the air, but that monitoring would continue.
Kaiser's Richmond Medical Center said several dozen people came to the emergency room Monday night complaining of shortness of breath, but none was seriously ill.
Julius Bailey, 21, who lives on Barrett Avenue in Richmond, blocks away from the refinery, was at the hospital wearing a face mask. He said his throat had started burning and his eyes itching. After seeing a doctor, he said, "They told me I'm not going to die, but it sure feels pretty serious."
BART closed the Richmond, El Cerrito del Norte and El Cerrito Plaza stations at about 7 p.m., and shut down service between Richmond and El Cerrito and Richmond and North Berkeley about 30 minutes later. Only the Richmond Station remained closed late Monday.
Toll takers on the westbound Richmond-San Rafael Bridge were told to take shelter because of the fire, said Officer Ralph Caggiano, a California Highway Patrol spokesman. He said he wasn't sure whether cash-paying drivers would get a free trip, but drivers with FasTrak were still being charged tolls.
Previous fires
The Chevron Richmond refinery was founded more than a century ago and is Northern California's largest, capable of processing more than 242,000 barrels of oil each day. It is the third-largest refinery in the state. A prolonged closure could push up gasoline prices, which are already rising nationwide because of a rally in the market for crude oil.
The refinery has suffered fires before. In January of 2007, the seal on a pump in a crude unit failed, triggering a fire that lasted almost 10 hours.
David Rorai, 60, was working as a welder for Chevron about a decade ago when another explosion injured several workers.
"On that last one, we ran like hell," he said, as he stood watching the smoke from Monday night's fires. "We got in our cars and left. I feel for those guys in there right now." Rorai said danger is just a fact of the job when you work around explosive gases.
"You got to figure if the guy next to you didn't clear his line right or wasn't being careful, that's it for you," he said. "Comes with the job."
Chevron has for years wanted to overhaul and upgrade the facility. But many Richmond residents and environmentalists have objected, saying the project would create more air pollution in a community that already has too much. Although Richmond's City Council approved the renovation project in 2008, a judge halted construction work the next year, ruling that Chevron had not answered key questions in the project's environmental impact report.
Monday night, along a fence line on Barrett Avenue in Richmond, a dozen children and teenagers stood fixated, covering their mouths with their shirts as they watched the smoke pour into the sky. They said they had never seen anything like this in their lives.
"When I heard the booms, I was scared and hid because I thought it was grenades," said Dai'lonie Fuller, 12. "I'm just here to get a look, and then I'm staying inside."
Under the spreading plume of smoke sat the Christian Home Missionary Church, about a block from the fence. While one singer coughed, the dozen-woman choir sang, despite evacuation orders, their urgent gospel music filling the empty street outside.
"We've got a funeral to sing at tomorrow, and that doesn't wait," said Laura Young, 65. "We're trying to do what we've got to do."
The song they were singing was "God Will Take Care of You."
The fire dwindled down to a few thin twists of smoke by about 8:30 p.m., but flames still flickered beyond what observers could see from the perimeter. Chevron officials said crews were fighting the blaze with nitrogen and steam to keep it cool, but had no estimate as to when it would be extinguished.
By 8:45 p.m., the winds shifted to the west, blowing the smoke away from the city and into the bay, said Greg Lawler, a health services hazardous materials specialist for Contra Costa County.
Ken Workman, 47, stood on Macdonald Avenue, peeking through the fence at the fire and shaking his head. He has lived a couple of blocks away since 1987 and said he thinks the refinery doesn't do enough to protect local residents.
"The wind never blows that smoke to Marin County, now does it?" he said. "They made sure of that. I think it's intentional that they don't protect us." | – Explosions tore through a Chevron oil refinery as it erupted in flames yesterday, driving toll takers from the Richmond Bridge and San Francisco Bay Area residents indoors. At least two fires were triggered when a diesel leak exploded at the Richmond refinery, one of the largest in the nation, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. There were no fatalities and no one was seriously injured. The plant was evacuated after workers spotted the leak. Minutes after the explosions, plant alarms alerted nearby residents to stay indoors with doors and windows shut to avoid breathing toxins in the air. Residents in all of Contra Costa County in the East Bay were being told to stay inside as hazmat trucks drove through streets taking air samples. Health officials, concerned about fumes from crude oil and diesel fuel, said that so far the winds seem to be carrying most of the smoke skyward. Dozens of people complaining about breathing problems headed to local emergency rooms. One patient with a burning throat and sore, itchy eyes, told the Chronicle: "They told me I'm not going to die, but it sure feels pretty serious." The fire was contained late last night as a crew of 60 firefighters battled the blaze with nitrogen and steam to keep it cool, but Chevron officials offered no estimate as to when the fire would be extinguished, NBC reports. The 1,200-worker refinery is Northern California's largest, the third biggest in the state, and is capable of processing more than 242,000 barrels of oil a day. | [
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Los Angeles police are seeking two men in connection with the slaying of a 19-year-old Canadian woman who was stabbed to death in 1969, just a few miles from the most infamous of the Manson family killings.
Sketches of the men were released Friday by the Los Angeles Police Department and are based on new information collected from a witness in Montreal.
The drawings show how the men might have looked in 1969, when the body of the then-unidentified woman — stabbed 150 times in the upper torso and neck — was discovered by a child on Mulholland Drive, not far from the Benedict Canyon home where actress Sharon Tate and four others had been stabbed to death a few months earlier, in August 1969.
The Canadian woman’s slaying has long been suspected of being tied to the Manson family murders, but as of April of this year, police still had no concrete evidence linking the killings.
We believed that Reet was probably in search of more autonomy, and therefore we waited for her to get in touch with us. — Anne Jurvetson, sister of Reet, who was slain in 1969
Detectives began reinvestigating the killing in 2003, after a retired LAPD cold-case investigator turned up a DNA sample, said LAPD Det. Luis Rivera. That sample, along with photographs of the victim, led investigators to her sister, and eventually, a positive ID was made.
Little was known about the young woman, Reet Jurvetson, after she traveled to Los Angeles in 1969. She came to meet a friend named “John or Jean,” Rivera said. She initially kept in sporadic touch with her family. As time passed without contact, her relatives became concerned, but they never filed a missing person’s report, he said.
Her sister, Anne, the only remaining relative in Jurvetson’s immediate family, recently created a website to help solve her sister’s killing. She posted photos of Reet as a teenager: celebrating her church confirmation, lounging on a sofa, smiling in a family portrait.
Handout An undated photo of Reet Jurvetson An undated photo of Reet Jurvetson (Handout)
She describes the young woman as adventurous but naive, part of an Estonian refugee family who fled to Canada during World War II.
“Attempts were made to reach her, but they proved fruitless,” she wrote. “Initially, we believed that Reet was probably in search of more autonomy, and therefore we waited for her to get in touch with us.”
As years passed, Anne said, the family imagined her sister had made a new life for herself. No one suspected the young woman had been killed, she said.
When Anne found out about her sister’s slaying, it was “devastating,” she wrote.
The witness in Montreal provided new details in July about the friend named John or Jean.
The witness remembers meeting Reet Jurvetson and the man at a cafe in Montreal, police said. The witness also provided information on an associate, a shorter man with a Beatles-type haircut who might also have been named Jean.
Authorities said Friday that Anne Jurvetson had recently found a postcard sent by her sister about two weeks before she was killed.
Handout A postcard Reet Jurvetson sent to her family shortly before her death. A postcard Reet Jurvetson sent to her family shortly before her death. (Handout)
Dated Oct. 31, 1969, it read:
“Dear Mother and Father, The weather is nice and the people are kind. I have a nice little apartment. I go frequently to the beach. Please write to me. Hugs, Reet.”
The postcard was sent from an apartment in Hollywood. The building, on Melrose Avenue, used to be the Paramount Hotel, but it was demolished in 1989 and replaced with a new structure.
Detectives initially suspected the Manson family of Jurvetson’s killing because their other victims had been stabbed to death, Rivera said, and Jurvetson’s death occurred about the time of the cult killings.
Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi said in his 1974 book “Helter Skelter” that he believed Jane Doe No. 59 — as Jurvetson was then known — was killed because she had witnessed another suspected Manson family slaying, the death of John Phillip Haught.
Investigators initially believed Haught died playing Russian roulette in Venice in November 1969. But Simon Wells, author of the Manson biography “Coming Down Fast,” found out that Manson family members were present when Haught died.
Manson and his followers eventually were convicted of killing nine people during a bloody rampage in the Los Angeles area in August 1969. Prosecutors said Manson and his followers were trying to incite a race war that he believed was prophesied in the Beatles song “Helter Skelter.”
Last year, LAPD investigators interviewed Manson at Corcoran State Prison, where he is incarcerated, but Manson did not provide any additional information, according to Capt. Billy Hayes, commander of the Robbery Homicide Division.
“Talking to Charlie is like talking to a wall,” Hayes said.
Prosecutors and Manson scholars have always believed the group was responsible for slayings beyond the nine for which they were convicted.
Manson is eligible for parole in 2027. Most of his followers remain jailed or have died.
CAPTION White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks about President Trump's response to Steve Bannon's comments about Donald Trump Jr. and his Russia meeting. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks about President Trump's response to Steve Bannon's comments about Donald Trump Jr. and his Russia meeting. CAPTION White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks about President Trump's response to Steve Bannon's comments about Donald Trump Jr. and his Russia meeting. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks about President Trump's response to Steve Bannon's comments about Donald Trump Jr. and his Russia meeting. CAPTION It’s the first time that a rock act hasn’t headlined the festival. It’s the first time that a rock act hasn’t headlined the festival. CAPTION President Trump’s lawyer on Thursday demanded a publisher and author cease publication of a forthcoming book. President Trump’s lawyer on Thursday demanded a publisher and author cease publication of a forthcoming book. CAPTION Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions scrapped a policy that offered legal shelter for state-sanctioned marijuana sales. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions scrapped a policy that offered legal shelter for state-sanctioned marijuana sales. CAPTION President Trump delivered a scorching rebuke to his former chief strategist. President Trump delivered a scorching rebuke to his former chief strategist.
esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com
@LATBermudez
Times staff writers James Queally and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
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UPDATES:
8:32 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with additional editing.
This article was originally published at 6 a.m. ||||| "Dear Mom and Dad, the weather is nice… I go frequently to the beach," wrote 19-year-old Reet Jurvetson in a postcard to her parents in Montreal, on Oct. 31, 1969.
The Canadian woman, who would have just two weeks to live before being stabbed 157 times, added "the people are kind" to describe the Americans she met in California.
Jurvetson had left Canada days earlier to visit a fellow Montrealer named Jean in Hollywood.
She had a crush on the young man who looked like Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the Doors.
A week after the fifth estate released a sketch of Jean commissioned by the program, the LAPD today released another sketch of him by a different artist.
Critical new detail
The LAPD also revealed that it recently learned the address of where Jurvetson had been living while in Hollywood — 5311 Melrose Ave. — information it had been seeking for months.
In an interview with the fifth estate in May, the Los Angeles Police Department's lead detective on the case, Det. Louis Rivera, said the address where she was staying was "the most important" missing clue. Based on the memories of Jurvetson's sister and best friend, postcards had said only that she was living in a nice apartment.
"From the location where she was staying, we can actually develop other leads, because this was an apartment building. So Jean may not be around, but we're going to go and ask anyone who might have been there during that time period."
With the discovery of Jurvetson's last address, the LAPD says their investigation has renewed momentum.
It turns out the apartment where Jurvetson was staying was a four-storey building called the Paramount Hotel. She stayed in apartment 306.
One of the last photos taken of Reet Jurvetson, when she was 18. She was 19 when she was killed. (Jurvetson family)
The LAPD is appealing to anyone who may have stayed in the apartment building to come forward if they have any memory of Jurvetson or the friend she was staying with — Jean, who police now call a "person of interest."
"He's definitely someone who's at the heart of the investigation because she came to visit him," Rivera told the fifth estate's Bob McKeown in an interview in July.
Jurvetson's body was found on Nov. 16, 1969 — dumped in the canyon off Mulholland Drive — two weeks after she mailed postcards to her parents and best friend, Gilda Green.
Green does not remember Jean's surname 47 years later, but he was someone she and Jurvetson knew socially in Montreal.
The LAPD reopened the investigation into Jurvetson's death in June 2015, after one of her friends called to say she recognized Jurvetson's morgue photo online. She was positively identified by DNA results in December.
Jurvetson had been known as Jane Doe 59 for almost half a century because she was found without any identification and her family hadn't reported her missing.
Over the summer, the fifth estate told Jurvetson's story through Instagram and Twitter in a 23-part series, a first for the program.
Over the summer, the CBC's the fifth estate told Jurvetson's story through Instagram and Twitter in a 23-part series that invited the public to help solve the cold case. (Thomas Hall/CBC)
the fifth estate is still actively searching for clues and is inviting the public to take part in its investigation by joining the Facebook page for the story, Facebook.com/JaneDoe59, and submitting any new clues.
You can also email the fifth estate directly at janedoe59@cbc.ca
The final instalment of the story will be broadcast in a documentary titled Jane Doe 59 that will air on the fifth estate on CBC-TV on Nov. 18 at 9 p.m. | – The Los Angeles Police Department has released sketches of two men considered persons of interest in a 47-year-old murder possibly connected to the Manson family, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to People, Reet Jurvetson, 19, flew from Canada to LA in 1969 to see a man named Jean she met in a Montreal coffee shop. Weeks later, she was dead—stabbed 150 times. Jurvetson's body was found on Mulholland Drive, near where Sharon Tate and four others had been stabbed to death by the Manson family a few months earlier. One Manson prosecutor believes Jurvetson was killed because she witnessed another killing, but no solid evidence has ever tied her death to the Manson family. Jurvetson's family never filed a missing persons report, figuring she had started a new life in the US, and Jurvetson wasn't even identified until last April. Earlier this summer, a friend from Montreal called the LAPD. She remembered seeing Jurvetson with a man named Jean—and a second man named Jean—at a coffee shop. She helped police develop a sketch of the Jeans, who may have been roommates, and now detectives are looking for the pair. One LAPD investigator calls Jean "the best lead we have." Police also got another lead recently when they discovered where Jurvetson had been living in Hollywood before her death, CBC reports. While the apartment building has since been demolished, investigators are looking for anyone who used to live there. (The youngest member of the Manson family lost her bid for parole this summer.) | [
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Scientists have long thought that the first flowering plant in history would be a land plant. Though a few angiosperms (the scientific name for flowering plants) around today occur in the water, most live on land, and it has been generally assumed that these types of plants evolved on terra firma before radiating back out into the water, says Indiana University paleobotanist David Dilcher.
But that may not be the case. A paper published August 17 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has identified the oldest flowering plant found to date, an aquatic species fossilized in deposits in modern-day Spain.
Dilcher and colleagues from France, Germany and Spain have shown that fossils of a plant known as Montsechia vidalii came on the scene between 130 million and 124 million years ago. It’s hypothesized that terrestrial angiosperm had already appeared at the time, although the current find predates any known terrestrial specimens. Montsechia also predates the oldest known angiosperm, Archaefructus, which came in 124.5 million years ago.
O. Sanisidro, B.G., and V.D.G. / PNAS
“Flowers are all about sex,” Dilcher says. The great advance of angiosperms was to co-opt the behavior of animals, getting them to carry their pollen to other individuals of their species (wind, of course, can also do the job). This creates more diverse offspring than does self-fertilization, regeneration or the production of asexual spores, which is, for example, how ferns reproduce. But another way to spread your seed, so to speak, is by using water currents, as Montsechia did. And “right at the start [of angiosperm evolution], this was another method that flowering plants were using for their genetic exchange,” Dilcher says.
Modern-day descendants of Montsechia, known as Ceratophyllum, appear quite similar to their ancient descendants and are found in lakes on every continent. The six existing species release a pollen-containing sac called an anther, which floats to the surface and then ruptures to release pollen grains. These are then carried by currents and, if all goes well, fertilize primitive flowers in other Ceratophyllum plants. These plants lack roots and petals, and have simple, tiny flowers that contain a single seed, according to the study.
“We don’t know, and it’s difficult to say, that this is the first flower in the world,” Dilcher says. (Though it is the oldest found to date.) These underwater plants almost certainly had a large, and underappreciated, role in the early and subsequent evolution of angiosperms, he adds.
See all of the best photos of the week in these slideshows
This study helps “to unravel the evolutionary and ecological events that accompanied the rise of flowering plants to global prominence,” writes Donald Les, a University of Connecticut expert in plant evolution who was not involved in the study, in a commentary in the same journal. ||||| The importance of very early aquatic flowering plants is not well understood currently and is poorly documented. Here we present details of the morphology and reproductive biology of Montsechia, an extremely early fossil angiosperm that, because it is so ancient and is totally aquatic, raises questions centered on the very early evolutionary history of flowering plants. This paper challenges the paradigm of how we view the early evolution of basal angiosperms and particularly the role of aquatic habitats in the very early evolution and diversification of flowering plants.
Abstract
The early diversification of angiosperms in diverse ecological niches is poorly understood. Some have proposed an origin in a darkened forest habitat and others an open aquatic or near aquatic habitat. The research presented here centers on Montsechia vidalii, first recovered from lithographic limestone deposits in the Pyrenees of Spain more than 100 y ago. This fossil material has been poorly understood and misinterpreted in the past. Now, based upon the study of more than 1,000 carefully prepared specimens, a detailed analysis of Montsechia is presented. The morphology and anatomy of the plant, including aspects of its reproduction, suggest that Montsechia is sister to Ceratophyllum (whenever cladistic analyses are made with or without a backbone). Montsechia was an aquatic angiosperm living and reproducing below the surface of the water, similar to Ceratophyllum. Montsechia is Barremian in age, raising questions about the very early divergence of the Ceratophyllum clade compared with its position as sister to eudicots in many cladistic analyses. Lower Cretaceous aquatic angiosperms, such as Archaefructus and Montsechia, open the possibility that aquatic plants were locally common at a very early stage of angiosperm evolution and that aquatic habitats may have played a major role in the diversification of some early angiosperm lineages. ||||| A large intact specimen of the fossil, Montsechia. Usually only small fragmentary pieces of the fossil are found. Credit: David Dilcher Indiana University paleobotanist David Dilcher and colleagues in Europe have identified a 125 million- to 130 million-year-old freshwater plant as one of earliest flowering plants on Earth.
The finding, reported Aug. 17 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, represents a major change in the presumed form of one of the planet's earliest flowers, known as angiosperms.
"This discovery raises significant questions about the early evolutionary history of flowering plants, as well as the role of these plants in the evolution of other plant and animal life," said Dilcher, an emeritus professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Geological Sciences.
The aquatic plant, Montsechia vidalii, once grew abundantly in freshwater lakes in what are now mountainous regions in Spain. Fossils of the plant were first discovered more than 100 years ago in the limestone deposits of the Iberian Range in central Spain and in the Montsec Range of the Pyrenees, near the country's border with France.
Also previously proposed as one of the earliest flowers is Archaefructus sinensis, an aquatic plant found in China.
"A 'first flower' is technically a myth, like the 'first human,'" said Dilcher, an internationally recognized expert on angiosperm anatomy and morphology who has studied the rise and spread of flowering plants for decades. "But based on this new analysis, we know now that Montsechia is contemporaneous, if not more ancient, than Archaefructus."
Illustrations based on fossilized remains show long- and short-leaved forms of the plant and a single seed. Credit: Oscar Sanisidro
He also asserted that the fossils used in the study were "poorly understood and even misinterpreted" during previous analyses.
"The reinterpretation of these fossils provides a fascinating new perspective on a major mystery in plant biology," said Donald H. Les, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut, who is the author of a commentary on the discovery in the journal PNAS. "David's work is truly an important contribution to the continued quest to unravel the evolutionary and ecological events that accompanied the rise of flowering plants to global prominence."
The conclusions are based upon careful analyses of more than 1,000 fossilized remains of Montsechia, whose stems and leaf structures were coaxed from stone by applying hydrochloric acid on a drop-by-drop basis. The plant's cuticles—the protective film covering the leaves that reveals their shape—were also carefully bleached using a mixture of nitric acid and potassium chlorate.
Examination of the specimens was conducted under a stereomicroscope, light microscope and scanning electron microscope.
The age of the plant at 125 million to 130 million years is based upon comparisons to other fossils in the same area, notably the freshwater algae charophytes, which places Montsechia in the Barremian age of the early Cretaceous period, making this flowering plant a contemporary of dinosaurs such as the brachiosaurus and iguanodon.
The precise, painstaking analysis of fossilized structures remains crucial to paleobotany, in contrast to other biological fields, due to the current inability to know the molecular characters of ancient plants from millions of years ago, Dilcher said.
This careful examination was particularly important to Montsechia since most modern observers might not even recognize the fossil as a flowering plant.
"Montsechia possesses no obvious 'flower parts,' such as petals or nectar-producing structures for attracting insects, and lives out its entire life cycle under water," he said. "The fruit contains a single seed"—the defining characteristic of an angiosperm—"which is borne upside down."
In terms of appearance, Dilcher said, Montsechia resembles its most modern descendent, identified in the study as Ceratophyllum. Also known as coontails or hornworts, Ceratophyllum is a dark green aquatic plant whose coarse, tufty leaves make it a popular decoration in modern aquariums and koi ponds.
Next up, Dilcher and colleagues want to understand more about the species connecting Montsechia and Ceratophyllum, as well as delve deeper into when precisely other species of angiosperms branched off from their ancient forefathers.
"There's still much to be discovered about how a few early species of seed-bearing plants eventually gave rise to the enormous, and beautiful, variety of flowers that now populate nearly every environment on Earth," he said.
Explore further: Research yields understanding of Darwin's 'abominable mystery'
More information: Montsechia, an ancient aquatic angiosperm, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1509241112
| – The world's oldest known flower dating back 130 million years is an aquatic species called Montsechia found fossilized in limestone deposits in Spain. But it wouldn't necessarily be recognized as a flower today, given it didn't boast petals or nectar-producing structures. "The fruit contains a single seed"—thus making it an angiosperm, or flowering plant—"which is borne upside down," says Indiana University paleobotanist David Dilcher, who with colleagues reports these findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The plant thrived in freshwater lakes in what are now Spain's mountainous regions, and while Phys.org reports that the fossils were first discovered more than 100 years ago, the ones used in this study were "poorly understood and even misinterpreted" when analyzed at earlier points, Dilcher says. One way to spread seed—which in angiosperms is typically done by getting other animals (think bees) or elements (think wind) to carry pollen to other members of the same species—is through water currents. In fact today's descendants of Montsechia, called Ceratophyllum, are found in lakes on every continent, and they behave similarly. "Flowers are all about sex,” Dilcher tells Newsweek. "Right at the start [of angiosperm evolution], this was another method that flowering plants were using for their genetic exchange." Whether Montsechia is the world's oldest flower has yet to be determined, but it is the oldest flower we have found to date, suggesting that angiosperms have their earliest roots in water instead of on land. (Michigan officials are warning about a plant that can blind you.) | [
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HONOLULU (AP) — A 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a flight from California to Hawaii on Sunday, surviving the trip halfway across the Pacific Ocean unharmed despite frigid temperatures at 38,000 feet and a lack of oxygen, FBI and airline officials said.
File- This July 2, 2004, file photo shows a traveler walking from one terminal to another at San Jose Airport in San Jose, Calif. FBI officials say a 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a... (Associated Press)
FBI spokesman Tom Simon in Honolulu told The Associated Press on Sunday night that the boy was questioned by the FBI after being discovered on the tarmac at the Maui airport with no identification.
"Kid's lucky to be alive," Simon said.
Simon said security footage from the San Jose airport verified that the boy from Santa Clara, Calif., hopped a fence to get to Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning. The child had run away from his family after an argument, Simon said. Simon said when the flight landed in Maui, the boy hopped down from the wheel well and started wandering around the airport grounds.
"He was unconscious for the lion's share of the flight," Simon said. The flight lasted about 5½ hours.
Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman Alison Croyle said airline personnel noticed the boy on the ramp after the flight arrived and immediately notified airport security.
"Our primary concern now is for the well-being of the boy, who is exceptionally lucky to have survived," Croyle said.
Simon said the boy was medically screened and found to be unharmed.
"Doesn't even remember the flight," Simon said. "It's amazing he survived that."
His misadventure immediately raised security questions. A Congressman who serves on the Homeland Security committee wondered how the teen could have snuck onto the airfield at San Jose unnoticed.
"I have long been concerned about security at our airport perimeters. #Stowaway teen demonstrates vulnerabilities that need to be addressed," tweeted Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who represents the San Francisco Bay Area's eastern cities and suburbs.
A Mineta San Jose International Airport spokeswoman said airport police were working with the FBI and the Transportation Security Agency to review security at the facility as part of an investigation.
"Our concern is with this young boy and his family. Thank God he survived and we hope his health is OK," spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes said.
Officials at Kahului Airport referred questions to the State Department of Transportation, which did not return a phone call seeking comment. A Transportation Security Agency spokesman who declined to be named referred questions to the FBI and airport authorities.
The boy was released to child protective services and not charged with a crime, Simon said.
In August, a 13- or 14-year-old boy in Nigeria survived a 35-minute trip in the wheel well of a domestic flight after stowing away. Authorities credited the flight's short duration and altitude of about 25,000. Others stowing away in wheel wells have died, including a 16-year-old killed after stowing away aboard a flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Boston in 2010 and a man who fell onto a suburban London street as a flight from Angola began its descent in 2012.
___
Associated Press writer Daisy Nguyen contributed to this report from Los Angeles. Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia ||||| Police are investigating whether a man found dead on a west London street was a stowaway who fell from a plane. Just how often does this happen?
No-one saw the body fall from the sky on to Portman Avenue.
A few neighbours thought they heard something, a thud or a loud bang. But not a soul was around to witness a man hit the pavement of this quiet residential street in Mortlake, south-west London, early on a bright September Sunday.
Police say the death is being treated as unexplained. But early media reports all shared the same assumption - that he had stowed away in the landing gear of a plane flying to Heathrow, less than 10 miles away.
"He must have come down pretty much vertically to miss the parked cars," says John Taylor, 79, who heard a thump from his home across the street in this placid, affluent suburb. "I expect he was dead already. Poor chap must have been desperate."
Image caption Flowers mark the spot where a body was found in Mortlake
It is not the first incident of this kind on the Heathrow flightpath.
In 2001, the body of Mohammed Ayaz, a 21-year-old Pakistani, was found in the car park of a branch of Homebase in nearby Richmond. Four years prior to that, another hidden passenger fell from the undercarriage of a plane on to a gasworks close to the store.
Others turned up at Heathrow itself. On 24 August, just 16 days before the discovery on Portman Ave, the remains of another man were found in the landing gear bay of a Boeing 747 after it touched down from a 6,000-mile flight from Cape Town. The bodies of two boys, thought to be as young as 12, were discovered in the undercarriage of a Ghana Airways flight from Accra in 2002.
Dr Stephen Veronneau, of the US Federal Aviation Administration, has identified 96 individuals around the world who have tried to travel in plane wheel wells since 1947. The incidents happened on 85 flights. Veronneau is working on the assumption that the Mortlake fatality was a stowaway.
Of these, more than three-quarters have proved fatal.
It isn't difficult to see why. The undercarriage compartment of a plane is equipped with neither heating, oxygen nor pressure, all of which are crucial for survival as the altitude rises.
At 18,000ft (5,490m), experts say, hypoxia will set in, causing weakness, tremors, light-headedness and visual impairment. By 22,000ft (6,710m) the stowaway will struggle to maintain consciousness as their blood oxygen level drops. Above 33,000ft (10,065m) the lungs require artificial pressure to function normally.
Health risks include... Being crushed when landing gear retracts
Falling when compartment doors reopen
Hypothermia
Frostbite
Hearing loss
Tinnitus
Hypoxia (whole or part of body deprived of adequate oxygen supply)
Acidosis - build-up of acid in body fluids which can cause coma or death
At the same time, hypothermia is likely to be brought on, with temperatures dropping as low as -63C (-81F).
Those stowaways whose bodies are not mangled by the retracting landing gear or killed by these extreme conditions will almost certainly be unconscious by the time the compartment doors re-open a few thousand feet above ground, causing them to plunge to their deaths.
"They either get crushed or frozen to death," says aviation expert David Learmount, of Flight International magazine.
"There's a huge degree of ignorance. If anyone knew what they were letting themselves in for they wouldn't do it."
Some stowaways have survived. They tend to have travelled fairly short distances, but all rely more on luck than judgement.
In 2010 a 20-year-old Romanian survived a flight from Vienna to Heathrow stowed in the undercarriage, but only because the private jet flew below 25,000ft due to bad weather.
In 2000 Fidel Maruhi Tahiti survived the 4,000-mile journey from Tahiti to Los Angeles and, two years later, Victor Alvarez Molina made it from Cuba to Canada alive. But all suffered severe hypothermia.
With such a low survival rate, the obvious question is why anyone would embark on such a high-risk journey.
A handful of stowaways appear to have done so as a prank or out of a misguided sense of adventure. In 2010, the body of 16-year-old American Delvonte Tisdale was found on the flight path to Boston's Logan airport after he apparently hid in the wheel well of a US Airways Boeing 737 from Charlotte, North Carolina.
But such cases are exceptional. The overwhelming majority of cases involve individuals from developing countries attempting to make their way to Europe or North America.
They are also almost exclusively male - despite International Labour Organisation figures suggesting women made up 49.6% of all migrants worldwide in 2005.
Dangerous journey Since records began in 1947, 96 wheel well stowaways are thought to have attempted to board 85 flights
are thought to have attempted to board 85 flights 73 of those stowaways died and 23 survived
Two fatal cases in 2012 to date
First on August flight from Cape Town to Heathrow
And a September flight thought to have been from an African airport to Heathrow - suspected stowaway's body found in Mortlake, south-west London
Youngest recorded survivor aged nine
One person is known to have survived cruising altitude of 39,000ft Source: FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
Whether motivated by a desire to escape persecution or seek economic prosperity in the West, this method of transit represents the ultimate desperation.
"We don't know the circumstances of these particular people, but we know from our work with refugees that people are often forced to take extreme measures in order to flee their countries," says Deborah Harris, chief operating officer at the Refugee Council.
"In conflict situations, people often have to leave their homes at very short notice, and may have no access to money or belongings so are forced to take desperate measures to escape."
And yet it's hard to imagine even the most afflicted migrant would undertake a journey that was almost certain to lead to their death. It's easy to assume that ignorance of the sheer level of risk is what leads the stowaways to press ahead.
In the West, a public information campaign would be an obvious response to the stowaway deaths. But as the cases tend to originate from developing countries, it's hard to imagine where a concerned organisation might start.
As a result, these individuals represent a huge challenge for the authorities.
According to Norman Shanks, former head of group security at BAA, the threat to anyone other than the stowaway themselves - passengers, flight crews, people on the ground - is minimal.
But actually preventing someone slipping into the undercarriage depends on checks and procedures that are not always present, Shanks warns.
"In a lot of places around the world, the control of movement and airside control areas is not the same as what we have here."
"It's much easier in some locations to access the airside areas than it is in the UK. The only way it could be prevented is if the rest of the world tightened their procedures."
As for the man who fell to earth on Portman Avenue, police are still awaiting the results of his post-mortem.
Scotland Yard has so far been unable to identify him. But Angolan currency found with his remains offers a clue as to his origins.
A makeshift floral tribute has been left at the spot where he was found. Every few minutes, another incoming flight passes overhead. | – A 16-year-old boy who stowed away in the wheel well of a plane after a fight with his family is incredibly lucky to be alive after the California-to-Hawaii flight, authorities say. The boy made it through the five-hour flight unharmed yesterday despite freezing temperatures at 38,000 feet and a lack of oxygen, the AP reports. An FBI spokesman says the boy was apparently unconscious for most of the flight and he was taken into custody after being found wandering around the grounds of the airport in a disoriented state. Security footage from the San Jose airport shows the boy hopping a fence before he climbed into the wheel well of the Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767, the FBI says. "Our primary concern now is for the well-being of the boy, who is exceptionally lucky to have survived," an airline spokeswoman says. The boy, who has not been charged with any crime, is now in the hands of Hawaii Child Protective Services officials, reports Hawaii News Now. The BBC in 2012 noted that Dr. Stephen Veronneau, with the FAA, had documented 96 cases since 1947 of someone stowing away in a plane's wheel well; more than 75% of the cases ended in a fatality. | [
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Kim Jong-un saw the opportunity for maximum mischief offered by the most auspicious date in US history to launch a missile, literally and verbally
It is fair to say that the reporter tasked with working Kim Jong-un’s comments into North Korea’s latest statement on Tuesday’s intercontinental ballistic missile test did their job with even more relish than usual.
As taunts go, Kim’s comments, carried by the state KCNA news agency, raised the insult index several notches from Donald Trump’s suggestion a day earlier that his North Korean counterpart find a more productive use of his time than developing a nuclear deterrent.
North Korea missile test a 'new threat to world', says US amid show of military force Read more
The international response to the launch will only have inspired Kim to wring every last drop of propaganda value from the wave of opprobrium emanating from the White House and the Pentagon.
His response was straight from the North Korean propaganda playbook – designed to both grab the world’s attention and remind his domestic audience that, five-and-a-half years after his coronation following the sudden death of his father, Kim Jong-il, he has dramatically strengthened his country’s hand.
While Trump’s secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, attempted to galvanise world opinion, the KCNA’s description of Kim “feasting his eyes” on the ICBM and breaking into a “broad smile” – complete with photos of him punching the air in the company of delirious generals – would not have been out of place had he been attending an inter-Korean football match, with the North 3-0 up with only minutes on the clock.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reacts during the test-fire of intercontinental ballistic missile. Photograph: KCNA/Reuters
Just as significant anniversaries in the North Korean calendar provide opportunities for the Kim dynasty to burnish its reputation at home, Kim was canny enough to spy the opportunity for maximum mischief offered by the most auspicious date in US history.
According to KCNA, he described the ICBM as a gift for the “American bastards” as they celebrated the anniversary of their country’s independence. Kim did not stop there, blithely urging his nuclear scientists to “frequently send big and small ‘gift packages’ to the Yankees” in the form of yet more missile and nuclear tests.
After inspecting the Hwasong-14 missile, he “expressed satisfaction, saying it looked as handsome as a good-looking boy and was well made”.
This, of course, was the potentially game-changing development in North Korea’s brinkmanship with the US that Trump vowed would never happen.
But with a succession of high-level – and occasionally brutal – purges of would-be challengers at home, experts say Kim is now more closely associated with North Korean military might than his father or grandfather, the country’s founder Kim Il-sung.
“Kim Jong-il’s legacy was mixed – he let the army run the country for 10 years because he was afraid of a coup,” said Robert Kelly, a North Korea expert at Pusan National University. “Kim Jong-un has tied himself to the success of the nuclear programme, which is why denuclearisation is not going to happen.
Trump’s public comments on North Korea had played into the stereotype of Americans propagated by the state’s media.
'Guest workers': The North Korean expats forced to feed the regime Read more
“The US is central to North Korean propaganda, so when Trump talks about sending an armada to the Korean peninsula, or bombing North Korea, that plays into their hands.”
Nicholas Smith, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, believes that Kim’s rhetoric and actions are “a carefully crafted strategy of brinkmanship, designed mostly for maintaining his domestic grip on power”.
“The biggest challenge in his position as supreme leader – one all autocrats face – is how to maintain his authoritarian rule,” Smith wrote in an opinion piece for the Conversation.
“Kim Jong-un, like his father Kim Jong-il, has been able to pursue this strategy of brinkmanship with great success, at least for domestic purposes. This is mainly because despite all the international repercussions to date – ostracism, sanctions, and threats of intervention – China has been willing to prop up North Korea.”
The retaliatory launch of ballistic missiles by US and South Korean forces on Wednesday morning will not only have reminded remind Kim of the military might of his enemies, but reinforced a tenet of Kim dynasty propaganda: that North Korea is surrounded by hostile forces intent on its eradication.
“Kim Jong-un loves this, because it reinforces the image of North Korea standing up to a big, bullying imperialist,” Kelly said. “It fits exactly with the way North Korea wants to be portrayed, rather than the rogue, gangster state that it really is.”
“It would help if Trump backed away a little. His childish, personalised tweets bring the US down to the level of the North Koreans, and we know from the racist and sexist things it said about Barack Obama and Park Geun-hye that you are never going to win a mud-slinging contest with the KCNA.”
No one knows if Kim ever received the copy of Trump’s Art of the Deal that Dennis Rodman presented to the North Korean sports minister during his recent visit to Pyongyang. If the deal in question is how to wrong-foot a far more powerful nemesis, then he can probably live without the advice.
Having thrust his country to the top of the US’s foreign policy “to do” list and cemented his domestic image as all that stands between North Korea and US aggression, round one of the post-ICBM era must surely go to Kim. In Trump’s words: a pretty smart cookie indeed.
||||| A public TV screen broadcasts a local TV news showing what was said to be the launch of a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile, ICBM, aired by North Korea's KRT on July 4, 2017, in Tokyo Wednesday,... (Associated Press)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un vowed his nation would "demonstrate its mettle to the U.S." and never put its weapons programs up for negotiations a day after test-launching its first intercontinental ballistic missile. The hard line suggests more tests are being prepared as the country tries to perfect a nuclear missile capable of striking anywhere in the United States.
Tuesday's ICBM launch, confirmed later by U.S. and South Korean officials, is a milestone in Pyongyang's efforts to develop long-range nuclear-armed missiles. The North isn't there yet — some analysts suggest it will take several more years to perfect such an arsenal, and many more tests — but a successful launch of an ICBM has long been seen as a red line, after which it would only be a matter of time — if the country isn't stopped.
Worry spread in Washington and at the United Nations, where the United States, Japan and South Korea requested a U.N. Security Council emergency session, to be held later Wednesday. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. response would include "stronger measures to hold the DPRK accountable," using an acronym for the nation's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The uproar only seemed to inspire the North, whose propaganda machine rarely fails to aggrandize its leader and its military or to thumb its nose at rivals Seoul and Washington.
A report in its state media Wednesday described leader Kim as "feasting his eyes" on the ICBM, which was said to be capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead, before its launch. "With a broad smile on his face," Kim urged his scientists to "frequently send big and small 'gift packages' to the Yankees," an apparent reference to continuing the stream of nuclear and missile tests Kim has ordered since taking power in late 2011.
The North was also pleased that its test came as Americans celebrated Independence Day. Kim, the state media report said, told "scientists and technicians that the U.S. would be displeased to witness the DPRK's strategic option as it was given a 'package of gifts' incurring its disfavor by the DPRK on its 'Independence Day.'" The North has a history of conducting weapons test on or around July 4.
Kim reportedly "stressed that the protracted showdown with the U.S. imperialists has reached its final phase and it is the time for the DPRK to demonstrate its mettle to the U.S., which is testing its will in defiance of its warning."
The test, North Korea's most successful yet, is a direct rebuke to President Donald Trump's earlier declaration that such a test "won't happen!"
A U.S. scientist analyzing the height and distance of the launch said the missile could potentially reach Alaska.
North Korea's Academy of Defense Science, in a bit of hyperbole, said the test of what it called the Hwasong-14 marked the "final step" in creating a "confident and powerful nuclear state that can strike anywhere on Earth."
South Korea's Defense Ministry, in a report to lawmakers, tentatively concluded that North Korea test-fired a "new missile with an ICBM-class range" of more than 5,500 kilometers. But the ministry said it's not certain if the test was successful because Seoul couldn't verify if the North has mastered re-entry technology for an ICBM. The ministry said North Korea may now conduct a nuclear test with "boosted explosive power" to show off a warhead to be mounted on a missile.
The launch sends a political warning to Washington and its chief Asian allies, Seoul and Tokyo, while also allowing North Korean scientists a chance to perfect their still-incomplete nuclear missile program. It came days after the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Moon and ahead of a summit of the world's richest economies.
On Wednesday, U.S. and South Korean troops, in response to the ICBM launch, engineered a show of force for Pyongyang, with soldiers from the allies firing "deep strike" precision missiles into South Korean territorial waters. South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered the drills arranged with the United States to show "North Korea our firm combined missile response posture," his office said.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commanding officer of the British Armed Forces Joint Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Regiment, said that "in capability of missile terms and delivery, it is a major step up and they seem to be making progress week-on-week." He added, however, that "actually marrying the warhead to the missile is probably the biggest challenge, which they appear not to have progressed on."
North Korea has a reliable arsenal of shorter-range missiles and is thought to have a small number of atomic bombs, but is still trying to perfect its longer-range missiles. Some outside civilian experts believe the North has the technology to mount warheads on shorter-range Rodong and Scud missiles that can strike South Korea and Japan, two key U.S. allies where about 80,000 American troops are stationed. But it's unclear if it has mastered the technology needed to build an atomic bomb that can fit on a long-range missile.
Soon after the launch, Trump responded on Twitter: "North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!"
"This guy" presumably refers to Kim. China is North Korea's economic lifeline and only major ally, and the Trump administration is pushing Beijing to do more to push the North toward disarmament.
After North Korea claimed earlier this year it was close to an ICBM test launch, Trump took to Twitter and said, "It won't happen!"
North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons and powerful missiles to cope with what it calls rising U.S. military threats.
Regional disarmament talks on North Korea's nuclear program have been deadlocked since 2009, when the North pulled out of the negotiations to protest international condemnation over a long-range rocket launch.
The missile test could invite a new round of international sanctions, but North Korea is already one of the most sanctioned countries on Earth.
Last year, North Korea conducted its fourth and fifth atomic bomb tests and claimed a series of technical breakthroughs in its efforts to develop long-range nuclear missiles. The fifth nuclear test in September was the North's most powerful atomic detonation to date.
The Korean Peninsula has been divided since the end of World War II. Almost 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea. ||||| "Even if you cancel most of the trade between China and North Korea, I think Kim Jong Un would still be determined to do these nuclear activities," said Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at People's University in Beijing. "I think the problem from China's perspective is quite serious. And the issue is that China still can't find a way out of this predicament." ||||| UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States cautioned on Wednesday it was ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea’s nuclear missile program but said it preferred global diplomatic action against Pyongyang for defying world powers by test launching a ballistic missile that could hit Alaska.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that North Korea’s actions were “quickly closing off the possibility of a diplomatic solution” and the United States was prepared to defend itself and its allies.
“One of our capabilities lies with our considerable military forces. We will use them if we must, but we prefer not to have to go in that direction,” Haley said. She urged China, North Korea’s only major ally, to do more to rein in Pyongyang.
Speaking with his Japanese counterpart on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis underscored the “ironclad commitment” of the United States to defending Japan and providing “extended deterrence using the full range of U.S. capabilities,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement.
Mattis’ assurances to Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada came during a phone call to discuss the North Korean test, the statement said.
Taking a major step in its missile program, North Korea on Tuesday test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that some experts believe has the range to reach the U.S. states of Alaska and Hawaii and perhaps the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
North Korea says the missile could carry a large nuclear warhead.
The missile test is a direct challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has vowed to prevent North Korea from being able to hit the United States with a nuclear missile.
He has frequently urged China to press the isolated country’s leadership to give up its nuclear program.
Haley said the United States would propose new U.N. sanctions on North Korea in coming days and warned that
if Russia and China did not support the move, then “we will go our own path.”
She did not give details on what sanctions would be proposed, but outlined possible options.
“The international community can cut off the major sources of hard currency to the North Korean regime. We can restrict the flow of oil to their military and their weapons programs. We can increase air and maritime restrictions. We can hold senior regime officials accountable,” Haley said.
Diplomats say Beijing has not been fully enforcing existing international sanctions on its neighbor and has resisted tougher measures, such as an oil embargo, bans on the North Korean airline and guest workers, and measures against Chinese banks and other firms doing business with the North.
“Much of the burden of enforcing U.N. sanctions rests with China,” Haley said.
The United States might seek to take unilateral action and sanction more Chinese companies that do business with North Korea, especially banks, U.S. officials have said.
China’s U.N. ambassador, Liu Jieyi, told the Security Council meeting that the missile launch was a “flagrant violation” of U.N. resolutions and “unacceptable.”
“We call on all the parties concerned to exercise restraint, avoid provocative actions and belligerent rhetoric, demonstrate the will for unconditional dialogue and work actively together to defuse the tension,” Liu said.
TENSIONS WITH U.S.
The United States has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty and the past six decades have been punctuated by periodic rises in antagonism and rhetoric that have always stopped short of a resumption of active hostilities.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on during the test-launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang July 5, 2017. KCNA/via REUTERS
Tensions have risen sharply after North Korea conducted two nuclear weapons tests last year and carried out a steady stream of ballistic missile tests
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the ICBM test completed his country’s strategic weapons capability that includes atomic and hydrogen bombs, the state KCNA news agency said.
Pyongyang will not negotiate with the United States to give up those weapons until Washington abandons its hostile policy against the North, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
“He, with a broad smile on his face, told officials, scientists and technicians that the U.S. would be displeased ... as it was given a ‘package of gifts’ on its ‘Independence Day,’” KCNA said, referring to the missile launch on July 4.
Trump and other leaders from the Group of 20 nations meeting in Germany this week are due to discuss steps to rein in North Korea’s weapons program, which it has pursued in defiance of Security Council sanctions.
Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy said on Wednesday that military force should not be considered against North Korea and called for a halt to the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.
He also said that attempts to strangle North Korea economically were “unacceptable” and that sanctions would not resolve the issue.
The U.S. military assured Americans that it was capable of defending the United States against a North Korean ICBM.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis noted a successful test last month in which a U.S.-based missile interceptor knocked down a simulated incoming North Korean ICBM.
“So we do have confidence in our ability to defend against the limited threat, the nascent threat that is there,” he told reporters. He acknowledged though that previous U.S. missile defense tests had shown “mixed results.”
The North Korean launch this week was both earlier and “far more successful than expected,” said U.S.-based missile expert John Schilling, a contributor to Washington-based North Korea monitoring project 38 North.
Slideshow (18 Images)
It would now probably only be a year or two before a North Korean ICBM achieved “minimal operational capability,” he added.
Schilling said the U.S. national missile defense system was “only minimally operational” and would take more than two years to upgrade to provide more reliable defense. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Missiles fired during US-South Korea drills serve as warning to North Korea
The US and South Korea have held a ballistic missile drill, after North Korea tested a long-range missile experts believe may reach Alaska.
Self-restraint was "all that separated armistice and war" and could be changed at any time, the two allies said.
It would be a "grave mistake" for the North to think otherwise, they said.
China and Russia have urged both sides to stop flexing their military muscle and said they opposed any attempts at regime change in North Korea.
Meanwhile US President Donald Trump questioned Beijing's commitment to countering North Korea's nuclear threat, apparently citing China's first-quarter trade figures.
"Trade between China and North Korea grew almost 40 pct in the first quarter. So much for China working with us - but we had to give it a try!" he tweeted.
The missile launch, the latest in a series of tests, was in defiance of a ban by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The US has asked for an urgent meeting of the UNSC to discuss the issue. A closed-door session of the 15-member body will take place later on Wednesday.
Pyongyang claimed on Tuesday to have successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
However, most experts believe that the North does not yet have long-range nuclear weapon capabilities.
The two Koreas are technically still at war as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice.
How have the US and South Korea responded?
The allies conducted a ballistic missile fire exercise in the Sea of Japan.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the allies needed to demonstrate their missile defence posture "with action, not just a statement", his office said.
Meanwhile, a joint statement by Gen Vincent Brooks, commander of US forces Korea, and South Korean Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen Lee Sun-jin said the allies were maintaining patience and self-restraint, but this could change.
"We are able to change our choice when so ordered by our alliance's national leaders. It would be a grave mistake for anyone to believe anything to the contrary," it said.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called North Korea's move a "new escalation of the threat" and warned that Washington "will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea".
Mr Tillerson said "global action is required to stop a global threat" and warned that any nation that provided economic or military benefits to the North, or failed to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions, was "aiding and abetting a dangerous regime".
What is an ICBM?
A long-range missile usually designed to carry a nuclear warhead
The minimum range is 5,500km (3,400 miles), although most fly about 10,000km or more
Pyongyang has previously displayed two types of ICBMs: the KN-08, with a range of 11,500km, and the KN-14, with a range of 10,000km, but before 4 July had not claimed to have flight tested an ICBM. It is not clear what differentiates the Hwasong-14
North Korea's missile programme
What has North Korea said?
State news agency KCNA quoted leader Kim Jong-un as saying the test was a "gift" to the Americans on their independence day.
The report warned of the possibility of more tests, saying he ordered officials to "frequently send big and small 'gift packages' to the Yankees".
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "One expert says the missile could reach Alaska"
Pyongyang said earlier the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) had reached an altitude of 2,802km (1,731 miles) and flew 933km for 39 minutes before hitting a target in the sea.
North Korea, it said, was now "a full-fledged nuclear power that has been possessed of the most powerful inter-continental ballistic rocket capable of hitting any part of the world".
Does North Korea really have a long-range weapon now?
Some experts believe that Tuesday's test proves that it has a missile that could travel across the globe and reach Alaska.
Physicist David Wright said it could reach a maximum range of about 6,700km on a standard trajectory, while South Korea's defence ministry on Wednesday put the range between 7,000 and 8,000km.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption North Korean state TV announces "successful" missile test
But whether that missile could deliver a warhead is still a question.
Pyongyang claimed the rocket carried a "heavy warhead" and that it "accurately hit the targeted waters without any structural breakdown".
South Korea said there was no evidence proving the missile could withstand high temperatures and successfully re-enter the atmosphere, reported Yonhap news agency.
Experts believe Pyongyang does not yet have the capability to miniaturise a nuclear warhead, fit it onto a long-range missile, and ensure it is protected until delivery to the target.
They say many of North Korea's missiles cannot accurately hit targets.
But others believe that at the rate it is going, Pyongyang may overcome these challenges and develop a nuclear weapon that could strike the US within five to 10 years.
How advanced is North Korea's nuclear programme?
What now for Washington? - Dr John Nilsson-Wright, Chatham House
Image copyright KCNA Image caption North Korean media released this image of Tuesday's missile launch
By bringing Alaska within range, the new missile test is an unambiguous game-changer in both symbolical and practical terms.
US territory (albeit separate from the contiguous continental US) is now finally within Pyongyang's cross-hairs.
For the first time a US president has to accept that the North poses a "real and present" danger not merely to north-east Asia and America's key allies - but to the US proper.
President Trump's weakness lies in having overplayed his hand too publicly and too loudly.
Read more from Dr Nilsson-Wright.
How is the rest of the world reacting?
Japan on Tuesday said "repeated provocations like this are absolutely unacceptable" and lodged a protest.
Meanwhile China - who is Pyongyang's main economic ally - and Russia have called on North Korea to suspend its ballistic missile programme in exchange for a halt on the large-scale military exercises by the US and South Korea.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who met in Moscow on Tuesday, said "the opposing sides should start negotiations".
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov added that the two countries opposed any attempts to resolve the crisis by force.
"The task of the denuclearisation of the entire Korean peninsula cannot and should not be used as a disguise for attempts to change North Korea's regime. This is our common position," he said. ||||| Where could a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile hit?
Updated
The United States has concluded that North Korea has test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), according to a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Yesterday, an announcement on North Korean state television claimed the missile was capable of hitting "anywhere in the world".
Let's have a look at how that claim stacks up.
What we know about the test
North Korea claims it fired a Hwasong-14 missile which reached an altitude of 2,802 kilometres and flew 933km in 39 minutes.
David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said the missile was fired at a "very highly lofted trajectory".
If the missile had been fired at a standard trajectory, he said it could have a maximum range of 6,700km.
So does this latest test put the United States in range?
According to Mr Wright, yes.
It is not quite enough to reach New York or Washington, but he said Alaska would be within reach.
"That range would not be enough to reach the lower 48 states or the large islands of Hawaii, but would allow it to reach all of Alaska," he said.
If North Korea's claims are to be believed, US bases in the Pacific could also be within reach.
What about Australia?
A missile range of 6,700km could also put northern Australia within reach of a strike, as the map above shows.
But Andrew Davies, a senior military capability analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, says it's "hard to say" how far a North Korean missile could actually go.
"Because of the rotation of the Earth, north-to-south trajectories aren't simply a matter of measuring the distance," he said.
"But a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the NT would just be within range. Of course, future missiles could have longer ranges."
North Korea has previously pointed to America's deployment of marines to Darwin as evidence of preparation for war, saying Australia was "blindly and zealously toeing the United States line" and could be the target of a strike if this continues.
But Dr Davies rates the current threat that North Korea poses to Australia as "low".
"There's no sensible reason for North Korea to attack a US ally. The same goes for Japan and South Korea — I'm inclined to think that it's not as present a threat as many make out," he said.
Dr Davies says given the American nuclear security guarantee, North Korea would have to think twice about striking Australia.
"They would have to assume that the US wouldn't honour its undertaking," he said.
How has Australia responded?
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop called the latest test a provocative act.
"North Korea continues to threaten its neighbours while undermining regional and global security," she said in a statement.
"North Korea's long-term interests would be best served by ceasing its nuclear and missiles programs and focusing on improving the lives of its long-suffering people."
What does this test mean for closer neighbours like Japan and South Korea?
They're already in plenty of danger.
North Korea already has vast artillery capabilities pointed at South Korea's capital, Seoul.
And experts say it's developed short and medium-range missiles capable of striking the south and west of Japan.
An ICBM isn't necessary for North Korea to cause serious harm in the region and force the international community to act.
What happens now?
The ABC's North Asia correspondent Matthew Carney writes the first challenge is to verify North Korea's claim of a successful launch.
If North Korea really has developed an ICBM, he says it's a game-changer that will force President Donald Trump to act.
Reuters/ABC
Topics: government-and-politics, world-politics, korea-democratic-peoples-republic-of
First posted | – North Korea's first successful launch of an ICBM has shocked the world—and caused some gloating in Pyongyang. North Korea's KCNA news agency quoted Kim Jong Un as saying "American bastards would be not very happy with this gift sent on the July 4 anniversary," the Guardian reports. The agency said Kim, who has vowed not to give up the country's nuclear program, urged his nuclear scientists to "frequently send big and small 'gift packages' to the Yankees." According to KCNA, the missile North Korea launched Tuesday is capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead. The latest: The US and South Korea responded to the launch with a joint ballistic missile exercise in the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, reports the BBC. The two countries warned that "self-restraint" was "all that separated armistice and war." The US vowed to take tougher measures on North Korea, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calling for global action, reports Reuters. "All nations should publicly demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to their pursuit of nuclear weapons," he said. The United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting on the issue Wednesday. The New York Times looks at the different options President Trump can proceed with, and finds that they are "few and risky." One option that China and Russia agree on involves Pyongyang suspending its nuclear weapons program in return for the US suspending joint military exercises with South Korea. The launch of an ICBM has long been seen as a "red line," though analysts believe Pyongyang may still be years away from having long-range nuclear capability, the AP reports. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commanding officer of the British Armed Forces Joint Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Regiment, says "in capability of missile terms and delivery, it is a major step up and they seem to be making progress week-on-week," but "actually marrying the warhead to the missile is probably the biggest challenge, which they appear not to have progressed on." The Los Angeles Times reports that the ICBM launch wasn't a huge surprise for some analysts, who observed that North Korea had two mysterious launch failures at the same facility last fall. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation looks at just how far the North Korean ICBM could go. Experts believe Alaska and possibly some America's Pacific bases are now in range, as is northern Australia. | [
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The Seychelles, where the U.S. had temporarily stationed MQ-9s under the operational authority of U.S. Africa Command, now houses a base where a small fleet of “hunter-killer” drones resumed operations this month. (U.S. Africa Command/Major Eric Hilliard)
The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases for counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as part of a newly aggressive campaign to attack al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, U.S. officials said.
One of the installations is being established in Ethiopia, a U.S. ally in the fight against al-Shabab, the Somali militant group that controls much of that country. Another base is in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, where a small fleet of “hunter-killer” drones resumed operations this month after an experimental mission demonstrated that the unmanned aircraft could effectively patrol Somalia from there.
The U.S. military also has flown drones over Somalia and Yemen from bases in Djibouti, a tiny African nation at the junction of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In addition, the CIA is building a secret airstrip in the Arabian Peninsula so it can deploy armed drones over Yemen.
The rapid expansion of the undeclared drone wars is a reflection of the growing alarm with which U.S. officials view the activities of al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, even as al-Qaeda’s core leadership in Pakistan has been weakened by U.S. counterterrorism operations.
The U.S. government is known to have used drones to carry out lethal attacks in at least six countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The negotiations that preceded the establishment of the base in the Republic of Seychelles illustrate the efforts the United States is making to broaden the range of its drone weapons.
The island nation of 85,000 people has hosted a small fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones operated by the U.S. Navy and Air Force since September 2009. U.S. and Seychellois officials have previously acknowledged the drones’ presence but have said that their primary mission was to track pirates in regional waters. But classified U.S. diplomatic cables show that the unmanned aircraft have also conducted counterterrorism missions over Somalia, about 800 miles to the northwest.
The cables, obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, reveal that U.S. officials asked leaders in the Seychelles to keep the counterterrorism missions secret. The Reapers are described by the military as “hunter-killer” drones because they can be equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs.
To allay concerns among islanders, U.S. officials said they had no plans to arm the Reapers when the mission was announced two years ago. The cables show, however, that U.S. officials were thinking about weaponizing the drones.
During a meeting with Seychelles President James Michel on Sept. 18, 2009, American diplomats said the U.S. government “would seek discrete [sic], specific discussions . . . to gain approval” to arm the Reapers “should the desire to do so ever arise,” according to a cable summarizing the meeting. Michel concurred, but asked U.S. officials to approach him exclusively for permission “and not anyone else” in his government, the cable reported.
Michel’s chief deputy told a U.S. diplomat on a separate occasion that the Seychelles president “was not philosophically against” arming the drones, according to another cable. But the deputy urged the Americans “to be extremely careful in raising the issue with anyone in the Government outside of the President. Such a request would be ‘politically extremely sensitive’ and would have to be handled with ‘the utmost discreet care.’ ”
A U.S. military spokesman declined to say whether the Reapers in the Seychelles have ever been armed.
“Because of operational security concerns, I can’t get into specifics,” said Lt. Cmdr. James D. Stockman, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Africa Command, which oversees the base in the Seychelles. He noted, however, that the MQ-9 Reapers “can be configured for both surveillance and strike.”
A spokeswoman for Michel said the president was unavailable for comment.
Jean-Paul Adam, who was Michel’s chief deputy in 2009 and now serves as minister of foreign affairs, said U.S. officials had not asked for permission to equip the drones with missiles or bombs.
“The operation of the drones in Seychelles for the purposes of counter-piracy surveillance and other related activities has always been unarmed, and the U.S. government has never asked us for them to be armed,” Adam said in an e-mail. “This was agreed between the two governments at the first deployment and the situation has not changed.”
The State Department cables show that U.S. officials were sensitive to perceptions that the drones might be armed, noting that they “do have equipment that could appear to the public as being weapons.”
To dispel potential concerns, they held a “media day” for about 30 journalists and Seychellois officials at the small, one-runway airport in Victoria, the capital, in November 2009. One of the Reapers was parked on the tarmac.
“The government of Seychelles invited us here to fight against piracy, and that is its mission,” Craig White, a U.S. diplomat, said during the event. “However, these aircraft have a great deal of capabilities and could be used for other missions.”
In fact, U.S. officials had already outlined other purposes for the drones in a classified mission review with Michel and Adam. Saying that the U.S. government “desires to be completely transparent,” the American diplomats informed the Seychellois leaders that the Reapers would also fly over Somalia “to support ongoing counter-terrorism efforts,” though not “direct attacks,” according to a cable summarizing the meeting.
U.S. officials “stressed the sensitive nature of this counter-terrorism mission and that this not be released outside of the highest . . . channels,” the cable stated. “The President wholeheartedly concurred with that request, noting that such issues could be politically sensitive for him as well.”
The Seychelles drone operation has a relatively small footprint. Based in a hangar located about a quarter-mile from the main passenger terminal at the airport, it includes between three and four Reapers and about 100 U.S. military personnel and contractors, according to the cables.
The military operated the flights on a continuous basis until April, when it paused the operations. They resumed this month, said Stockman, the Africa Command spokesman.
The aim in assembling a constellation of bases in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula is to create overlapping circles of surveillance in a region where al-Qaeda offshoots could emerge for years to come, U.S. officials said.
The locations “are based on potential target sets,” said a senior U.S. military official. “If you look at it geographically, it makes sense — you get out a ruler and draw the distances [drones] can fly and where they take off from.”
One U.S. official said that there had been discussions about putting a drone base in Ethiopia for as long as four years, but that plan was delayed because “the Ethiopians were not all that jazzed.” Other officials said Ethiopia has become a valued counterterrorism partner because of threats posed by al-Shabab.
“We have a lot of interesting cooperation and arrangements with the Ethiopians when it comes to intelligence collection and linguistic capabilities,” said a former senior U.S. military official familiar with special operations missions in the region.
An Ethiopian Embassy spokesman in Washington could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
The former official said the United States relies on Ethiopian linguists to translate signals intercepts gathered by U.S. agencies monitoring calls and e-mails of al-Shabab members. The CIA and other agencies also employ Ethiopian informants who gather information from across the border.
Overall, officials said, the cluster of bases reflects an effort to have wider geographic coverage, greater leverage with countries in the region and backup facilities if individual airstrips are forced to close.
“It’s a conscious recognition that those are the hot spots developing right now,” said the former senior U.S. military official. ||||| WASHINGTON—The U.S. military is deploying a new force of armed drones to eastern Africa in an escalation of its campaign to strike militant targets in the region and expand intelligence on extremists, officials said.
The military has reopened a base for the unmanned aircraft on the island nation of Seychelles to intensify attacks on al Qaeda affiliates, particularly in Somalia, defense officials told The Wall Street Journal.
The... | – The Obama administration is creating an expanded network of drone bases in Africa, which officials say will help the US target Islamic militants in Somalia and Yemen. A new drone base is being built in Ethiopia, and the US is already deploying drones over Somalia and Yemen from its base in Djibouti, reports the Washington Post. A drone base in the Seychelles will be used to target Islamic militant groups, as well as pirates that plague the Indian Ocean island nation. Reaper drones deployed from the Seychelles—but controlled from bases in the US—can be configured for both surveillance and strike missions, say officials, who warn that militant groups in Africa are showing a new level of co-operation among themselves. "We do not know enough about the leaders of the al-Qaeda affiliates in Africa," a senior US official tells the Wall Street Journal. "Is there a guy out there saying, 'I am the future of al Qaeda?' Who is the next Osama bin Laden?" | [
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Culture And Criticism
In Slight Defense Of Miss Utah USA, A Little Bit, With Reservations
i i itoggle caption Ethan Miller/Getty Images Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Look, Miss Utah USA, Marissa Powell, gave a pretty unimpressive answer to a question about income inequality at the Miss USA pageant. Let's all agree on that.
But what, exactly, did the circumstances call for?
She was asked — by NeNe Leakes, who first became famous on The Real Housewives Of Atlanta before warring with Star Jones on The Celebrity Apprentice and is therefore exactly the person to whom we would entrust interrogations on major policy issues — the following question: "A recent report shows that in 40 percent of American families with children, women are the primary earners, yet they continue to earn less than men. What does this say about society?"
Not to put too fine a point on it, what kind of a simultaneously (1) dumb and (2) impossible to answer question is that? First of all, it's three questions rolled into one — what does it say that in 40 percent of homes, women are the primary earners, or what does it say that women earn less than men, or what does it say that we allow these two facts to coexist?
Second of all, "What does this say about society?" Really? Not "What kinds of help do families need to make ends meet?" or something with at least some policy meat on the bones, but "What does this say about society?" Asked by NeNe Leakes? While you're standing next to Giuliana Rancic, whose other job involves making people walk their fingernails down a tiny, hand-sized red carpet? What would have been a good answer to this question that could have been delivered in the time frame she had?
I think about this kind of stuff a lot. I've studied it. I've had about 20 years longer than Miss Utah USA to think about it. I have no idea what I would have said if someone had asked me such a moronic question on live television.
This isn't the kind of question that actually tests what you know; it's basically a test of your ability to generate cow patties on command. Have you ever seen the part of Miss Congeniality where they all say "world peace" and receive polite applause? The entire reason it's funny when Sandra Bullock says, "That would be harsher punishment for parole violators, Stan," is that she's not supposed to say anything substantive based on her experience. She's supposed to say "world peace."
These dumb questions aren't intended to actually see whether you're smart or not. Miss Utah USA might be smart and she might not be, but the last thing I'd use to guess at whether she's smart is whether she can answer this kind of question "correctly." Because "correctly" here just means smoothly, expertly, without hesitation or stammering. Had she said, "What it says is that we live in the greatest country in the world, and every day I get up and thank my lucky stars that I live in the United States of America," she would not be in the news, despite having given just as irrelevant a non-answer. Had she said, "What it says is that family is the most important thing in the world, and we need to figure out how to help all families be happy families because it's the most important thing in the world," she would not be in the news.
And none of this has to do with whether beautiful women or pageant contestants can be smart or are smart. Some are! Some are not! Welcome to the broad sweep of humanity.
She's not in the news for being dumb; she's in the news for being bad at spontaneous but convincing balderdash manufacturing, and because it's fun to watch a carefully orchestrated spectacle crash on the rocks. She's not a dumb person; she's bad at public speaking. And if she were good at it, nobody would have ever heard of her. ||||| NEW YORK — Miss Utah USA got a second chance Tuesday morning to answer a question she stumbled over Sunday night during the Miss USA pageant.
Marissa Powell, Miss Utah USA, made headlines nationwide after her rambling, incoherent response to a question asked by reality TV star NeNe Leakes. When asked what the wage gap between men and women says about society, Powell said it could be related to education and figuring out how to create jobs.
"That is the biggest problem and I think especially the men are, uh, seen as the leaders of this, so we need to try to figure out how to create education better so that we can solve this problem," she said.
Social media pounced on the answer, and video clips of the response went viral almost instantly. Tuesday morning on the Today show, though, Powell said that was not what she had meant to say.
"I was so excited and I was so nervous, and I got up to this top-five question ... and I got up and the question was a little bit confusing to me, and I just started speaking without really processing it," she told Today host Matt Lauer. "I just started going."
Lauer offered to give Powell a second chance at answering the question, and repeated it for the 21-year-old.
"So, this is not OK," she said. "It needs to be equal pay for equal work. It's hard enough already to earn a living and it shouldn't be harder because you're a woman."
Women working full-time in the U.S. are on average paid 77 percent of men doing equal work, according to the American Association of University Women, a nonprofit that advocates for equity in pay for women. In Utah, that percentage is 69 percent.
×
Related Links
Related Stories | – Miss Utah got to go on the Today show this morning for a second crack at the question that she flubbed at the recent Miss USA pageant. This time around, Marissa Powell gave a far more polished response, which KSL.com has in more detail. Good for her, but the next time this happens to a pageant contestant, and it surely will, just remember that these questions test not intelligence but the "ability to generate cow patties on demand," writes Linda Holmes at NPR. Holmes breaks down the original question—"A recent report shows that in 40% of American families with children, women are the primary earners, yet they continue to earn less than men. What does this say about society?"—and finds it to be simultaneously "dumb" and "impossible to answer." She's studied family and gender issues for years and has no idea how she would have responded. Powell could have blathered some vapid answer, but as long as she did so smoothly, it would have drawn no attention. "She's not in the news for being dumb; she's in the news for being bad at spontaneous but convincing balderdash manufacturing." Click for the full column. | [
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] |
The Grateful Dead with Trey Anastasio, Jeff Chimenti and Bruce Hornsby 3 Day Pass Tickets (July 3-5)
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Add this event to your public wishlist and share it with your friends. ||||| The Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well show has sold out in minutes, but Deadheads with deep pockets are still in with a chance. Stubhub is offering tickets for the three-day show with a top-price at $116,000 (and change), down to the "cheap-seats" at a touch under $1,350. According to various news outlets, a million dollar ticket was posted on Stubhub, the largest secondary ticket marketplace, but that the offer is no longer online.
The farewell event, set for Chicago's Soldier Field July 3-5, has officially sold-out at about 210,000. Requests for tickets are believed to be in the millions, Billboard reported, and nearly 500,000 were online waiting to purchase tickets when the "box office" opened at 10 a.m.
The Grateful Dead with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio will perform in a 360-degree configuration, allowing the venue to be filled to maximum capacity. When the onsale started, tickets were priced from $59.50 to $199.50 per day, with capacity at 70,000 per day. The shows are produced by Peter Shapiro, 42, in association with AEG-owned Madison House Presents.
First broken on Billboard.com Jan. 16, Fare thee Well will feature Anastasio joining original members of the Grateful Dead -- the "core four" of Bob Weir; Phil Lesh; Mickey Hart; and Bill Kreutzmann -- for these three 50th-anniversary shows. | – The "core four" original members of the Grateful Dead are reuniting for a three-day 50th anniversary show in Chicago, and let's just say people really, really want to see it. The farewell show, appropriately titled Fare Thee Well, sold out, but tickets are being sold on the secondary market for as much as $116,000 each. Even the least-expensive tickets are around $1,350, Billboard reports, and CNN notes that some of those have an obstructed view. Soldier Field, where the July 3-5 event is being held, seats about 70,000; the original ticket prices ranged from $59.50 to $199.50 per day. Phish frontman Trey Anastasio will be taking over for the late Jerry Garcia. | [
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Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| Snoozing Fan Claims ESPN Defamed Him BRONX, N.Y. (CN) - A baseball fan who dozed off during a Yankee-Red Sox game sued the Yankees, ESPN and its announcers for defamation, claiming they broadcast photos of him asleep in his chair, calling him "fatty, unintelligent, [and] stupid."
Andrew Robert Rector sued Major League Baseball Advanced Media, ESPN New York, the New York Yankees, and ESPN announcers Dan Shulman and John Kruk, in Bronx County Supreme Court. He demands $10 million in damages for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Rector claims he was filmed, and defamed, at the April 13 game between the Yankees and Red Sox, at Yankee Stadium.
"In the course of watching the game plaintiff napped and this opened unending verbal crusade against the napping plaintiff," the complaint states.
ESPN focused its cameras on him, Rector says, and then "Announcers like Dan Shulman and John Kruck unleashed avalanche of disparaging words against the person of and concerning the plaintiff. These words, include but not limited to 'stupor, fatty, unintelligent, stupid' knowing and intending the same to be heard and listened to by millions of people all over the world ..."
The writing style of the lawsuit is idiosyncratic. Quotations in this article are as in the complaint.
It states: "The defendant Major league Baseball continually repeated these vituperative utterances against the plaintiff on the major league baseball web site the next day. These words and its insinuations presented the plaintiff as symbol of anything but failure.
"The defendant MLB.Com continued the onslaught to a point of comparing the plaintiff to someone of a confused state of mind, disgusted disgruntled and unintelligent and probably intellectually bankrupt individual.
"Nothing triggered all these assertions only that the plaintiff briefly slept off while watching the great game something or circumstance any one can easily found them self.
"John Krock in his verbal attack insinuated that the plaintiff is individual that know neither history nor understood the beauty or rivalry between Boston Red Sox and New York Yankee.
"These unmitigated verbal onslaughts crossed the line between reporting on sport and abuse against the plaintiff without reasonable cause or restraint ..."
Rector claims the commentary and photos showed him in a false light, damaged his reputation, and the fact that he was napping was not an issue of legitimate public concern.
He claims that the defendants "negligently or maliciously published false, defamatory statement of fact about the plaintiff, a private individual. The false statements include but are not limited to:
"Plaintiff is unintelligent and stupid individual.
"Plaintiff is not worthy to be fan of the New York Yankee.
"Plaintiff is a fatty cow that need two seats at all time and represent symbol of failure.
"Plaintiff is a confused disgusted and socially bankrupt individual.
"Plaintiff is confused individual that neither understands nor knows anything about history and the meaning of rivalry between Red Sox and New York Yankee.
"Plaintiff is so stupid that he cannot differentiate between his house and public place by snoozing throughout the fourth inning of the Yankee game."
Rector seeks compensatory and exemplary damages.
He is represented by Valentine Okwara, of Jamaica, N.Y. | – There's no napping in baseball. When 26-year-old Yankees fan Andrew Rector fell asleep during a game against the Red Sox on April 13, an ESPN cameraman lingered on his snoozing face and two announcers launched into a diatribe that included the words "stupor, stupid, fatty, and unintelligent"—that according to a $10 million lawsuit Rector filed last Thursday against the Yankees, Major League Baseball, ESPN, and the two announcers, John Kruk and Dan Shulman, claiming defamation and "intentional infliction of emotional distress," reports Courthouse News Service. The New York Times points out that Shulman and Kruk said no such words in the clip (Shulman did, however, call him "oblivious"), though it's unclear whether they commented on the 4th-inning nap later. Rector's complaint is filled with misspellings and odd turns of phrases (Courthouse News calls the writing style "idiosyncratic"). An example, from paragraph 14, published on The Smoking Gun: "John Kruck [sic] in his verbal attack insinuated that the plaintiff is an individual that know neither history nor understood the beauty or rivalry between Boston Red Sox and New York Yankee." In his suit, Rector argues that the defendants presented false facts about him, including, "Plaintiff is not worthy to be fan of the New York Yankee," and, more colorfully, "Plaintiff is a fatty cow that need two seats at all time and represent symbol of failure." Rector's mother tells the Times the aftermath has been so bad he's had to miss work. (Another colorful NYC suit: A man in May sued for every penny on Earth, and then some.) | [
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Democrats pounced Thursday on politically inartful comments by Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.), who told constituents that his $174,000 salary is nothing to write home about.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hammered Southerland for statements he made during a visit to a retirement community in his Tallahassee-area district, in which he suggested his congressional salary was not worth the safety risks in the wake of the shooting that gravely injured Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in January.
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reset POLITICO 44
The DCCC response noted that Southerland’s salary is four times a local police officer’s take.
“It’s unbelievable how far out of touch Rep. Steve Southerland is with Florida families if he thinks his $174,000 salary is not so much,” DCCC spokesman Adam Hodge said in a statement. “While he’s complaining about only making $174,000, his constituents are struggling to put food on the table, keep a roof over their head or find a job.”
“And by the way, did I mention? They’re shooting at us. There is law-enforcement security in this room right now, and why is that?” Southerland said Wednesday, according to The Tallahassee Democrat. Southerland reportedly painted his salary as small compensation considering he had to cut ties with his family business and that, he said, there’s no free health insurance.
“If you think this job pays too much, with those kinds of risks and cutting me off from my family business, I’ll just tell you: This job don’t mean that much to me. I had a good life in Panama City,” Southerland said, according to the newspaper.
In a statement to POLITICO, Southerland said his remarks had been misinterpreted and that “other than the successes of my marriage and my family, serving the people of North and Northwest Florida has been one of the greatest honors of my life.”
“The folks who were in the room with me in Tallahassee on Wednesday understand the full context of the statements I made,” he said. “In the course of yesterday’s conversation, I explained in a transparent fashion how members of Congress are compensated, along with some of the unexpected events that can occur in the course of our work.”
Southerland won the Tallahasse-centered district by unseating Democrat Allen Boyd last year. It’s currently a GOP-leaning district, but may get slightly more competitive under Florida’s yet-to-be-drawn redistricting plan. Florida’s redistricting won’t be completed until next year.
Former Republican state Sen. Nancy Argenziano had announced that she would run for the seat as a Democrat, but a state elections board said she cannot because she was registered with a different party for a year before the period when candidates qualify for the ballot.
Florida state Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith told POLITICO there’s an easy fix if Southerland misses his life before he was elected to Congress.
“There’s one thing we agree on: He should return to his good life in Panama City,” Smith said. ||||| U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland told retirees Wednesday that serving in Congress is a great honor and privilege, but not cushy job with lavish insurance and pension benefits that many disgruntled taxpayers seem to think it is.
He said his $174,000 salary is not so much, considering the hours a member of the House puts in, and that he had to sever ties with his family business in Panama City. Southerland also said there are no instant pensions or free health insurance, as some of his constituents often ask him about in Congress.
"And by the way, did I mention? They're shooting at us. There is law-enforcement security in this room right now, and why is that?" Southerland told about 125 people in an auditorium at the Westminster Oaks retirement community. "If you think this job pays too much, with those kinds of risks and cutting me off from my family business, I'll just tell you: This job don't mean that much to me. I had a good life in Panama City."
In a wide-ranging forum with residents, Southerland said the Republican leadership of the House is protecting Social Security and Medicare. The Democratic Party in Washington is making calls into the sprawling 2nd Congressional District, ripping Southerland for his vote against the debt-ceiling agreement and accusing him and other tea party freshmen of endangering benefits for the poor and elderly.
Southerland, 45, said his parents are Medicare beneficiaries "and I'm not going to do anything to cross Mama." He said federal entitlement programs must be adjusted, though, for workers 54 years old and younger because of rising Medicare enrollment and soaring medical costs.
Westminster resident Barbara Rhodes cited Gov. Rick Scott's $30-a-month state health insurance, the same coverage provided for about 32,000 elected officers and state managers, as well as the federal health-care plan for members of Congress.
"If the rest of us could qualify for the same health insurance that the governor does, and that members of Congress have, would that help solve the problem?" she asked. | – A freshman GOP rep from Florida is taking some heat after suggesting his salary isn't worth the dangers of his job in the wake of Gabrielle Giffords' shooting, the loss of income from his family business, and the lack of free health care. “They’re shooting at us. There is law-enforcement security in this room right now, and why is that?” Rep. Steve Southerland asked a town hall meeting Wednesday, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. “If you think this job pays too much, with those kinds of risks, I’ll just tell you: This job don’t mean that much to me. I had a good life in Panama City.” Democrats are inviting him to go back there, with the DCCC pointing out that Southerland makes four times what a police officer in his district makes. “It’s unbelievable how far out of touch Rep. Steve Southerland is with Florida families if he thinks his $174,000 salary is not so much,” said a Democratic spokesman. Southerland tells Politico that his words were taken out of context and clarified that his job in Congress is “one of the greatest honors of my life.” | [
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HARTFORD — The first round of state testing into failing home foundations in northern and eastern Connecticut has concluded that the presence of a certain mineral in the concrete aggregate is at least partly to blame.
"Although [the] investigation will continue into the fall, we believe there is now sufficient evidence to conclude that significant levels of the mineral pyrrhotite in stone aggregate used in the production of concrete is a substantial contributing factor to the crumbling foundations," state Attorney General George Jepsen said in a written statement. The early finding was announced Monday afternoon in a news release from Jepsen and the state Department of Consumer Protection.
In addition, the agencies said they reached an agreement with J.J. Mottes Co. of Stafford Springs to discontinue using or selling aggregate from Becker's Quarry in Willington for residential foundations until June 30, 2017. The agreement also applies to Becker's Construction, another business in the family. Mottes' concrete has been cited in lawsuits filed by homeowners with faulty foundations. The agreement does not apply to commercial foundations.
"Because the aggregate produced by Becker's Quarry and the concrete made from it may contain pyrrhotite in significant levels, caution dictates that concrete products and ingredients from these companies be removed from the residential construction market until our investigation is complete," Jepsen said.
DCP Commissioner Jonathan A. Harris said pyrrhotite is a "common denominator" in their investigation. Pyrrhotite is a naturally occurring iron sulfide mineral that reacts with oxygen and deteriorates over time.
The mineral was also cited in a widespread problem in Quebec as the mineral that produces cracks in concrete. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told The Canadian Press that "the mineral destroys foundations and causes serious problems in the structures of houses."
The state said that it would continue searching for other factors that might have contributed to the foundation problems and that no finding of legal violations had been made to this point.
"We have the responsibility to determine whether there is a responsibility by any party under the Unfair Trade Practices Act … we'll be looking at potential solutions that can be used by the policymakers to determine what options homeowners might have," Harris said.
Stone aggregate is crushed stone, sand and/or gravel that when mixed with cement, water and occasionally other additives, makes concrete.
John Patton, Mottes company spokesman, said Monday that the agreement to temporarily stop using Becker's Quarry was "a good-faith measure and with the goal of finding answers homeowners deserve."
"We continue to believe this is an issue of improper installation and not materials — findings which were proven in our only Connecticut court case involving a failed foundation … and we have always cooperated with the state and will continue to do so in the hope of finding sustainable and meaningful solutions for the homeowners and future homeowners," Patton said in a written statement.
Harris said the suspension of activity at the Mottes and Becker businesses will give the state time to find solutions for homeowners and conclude the investigation.
"It covers this construction season and a good chunk of the next construction season, and it also allows the long legislative session to occur that could be needed to legislate, change the laws and find solutions," Harris said. "We'll develop a menu of options that homeowners can utilize to try and solve their problem, to cover as many cents on the dollar as possible."
On April 26, Mottes announced it was leasing its equipment to Farmington Ready Mix LLC for the 2016 building season because adverse publicity made in financially difficult for the company to continue operations.
Last July, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy assembled a task force of employees from the Department of Consumer Protection and attorney general's office to investigate the problem and find solutions for homeowners. Since then, 220 complaints have been filed by homeowners claiming their foundations are failing due to faulty concrete.
Tim Heim, one of the homeowners with a failing foundation and president of the Connecticut Coalition for Crumbling Basements, said he is satisfied with the first round of results.
"I'm pleased that the state of Connecticut's preliminary results confirmed what everyone has suspected along," Heim said. "The state of Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection and attorney general's office ignored and dropped the ball 16 years ago when many reported cases were brought to their attention. I feel bad for the families who had their home built last year and used this same concrete."
While the results provide some comfort, Heim said, he is still looking for the state to provide financial restitution.
"The state of Connecticut had had 10 months to find us victims a financial resolution," Heim said. "Once again, the state of Connecticut continues to fail to protect the victims."
Government officials, from U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal to Congressman Joseph Courtney to Malloy, have told homeowners that before financial solutions can be secured the state needs to know the scope of the problem.
"I thank them for their patience so far," Harris said of the homeowners, "but between the information we've put out so far, the bill that passed and this agreement … I hope people see that we've been making progress and we'll continue to do so." ||||| Ed. Note: The original version of this story incorrectly referred to John Patton as the president of the J.J. Mottes company. He is, in fact, a spokesperson.
Basement walls are crumbling across a section of eastern Connecticut and few seem to know why.
The issue has plagued some homeowners for nearly 20 years.
According to contractors and building officials from South Windsor to Willington, the only fix is for the foundation walls to be removed and re-poured. In each known case, insurance companies immediately deny the coverage claim.
Donald Childree, a general contractor from South Windsor, says he’s been in up to 75 different homes with the issue. He says it begins with hairline horizontal cracks, often more than 15 years after the foundation is originally placed. In time, map cracking develops, with some cracks big enough to fit a hand in.
"You’re looking at a minimum of $125,000 upwards to $200-250,000," Childree said, of the cost to replace the foundations. "Insurance companies absolutely will not cover anything."
Dozens of affected homeowners, contractors and building officials claim all of the failed foundations were poured between the early 1980s through 1998 by J.J. Mottes Company, a concrete and septic supplier out of Stafford Springs.
Dean Soucy is a general contractor out of Tolland. He says he’s received a "call or two per week" over the last several years from homeowners with the same issue.
He says each foundation he’s seen with the similar, distinct cracking was poured by J.J. Mottes Company in the '80s or '90s.
"This is like an epidemic as far as the housing industry is concerned," said Soucy, as he brought the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters through the basement of an affected home in Ellington.
Joseph Callahan, chief building official in Coventry, says all of the issues he’s seen in his 26 years of working in Coventry and Manchester were from J.J. Mottes concrete.
"I’ve never encountered anybody who had a foundation failure with anyone else’s concrete," said Callahan.
Towns don’t require permits for concrete foundations, but dozens of affected homeowners say it was J.J. Mottes Company who poured their concrete.
According to its website, J.J. Mottes Company was created in 1947.
In a statement, J.J. Mottes Company spokesperson John Patton did not comment on any issues prior to 1998, the year he purchased the company from in-laws.
His statement reads:
"The current ownership of the Joseph J. Mottes Company has been in place for 15 years. During this time, it has produced ready mix concrete for approximately 10,000 different residential, commercial, municipal and state jobs. We are aware of no project, not one, that has had the recently discovered phenomenon of pyrrhotite reaction and we have not been notified by either state regulators or industry sources of this alleged problem.
"We produce our concrete using sand, water, granite stone, Type I/II cement and standard industrial admixtures and use the exact same materials for our residential, commercial, and government work - the latter two of which are rigorously tested and inspected prior to and during installation. We have and continue to meet all of the standards of our industry and the regulations of the State of Connecticut.
"There are many factors that go into producing a good concrete product. Quality concrete mix handled improperly in the installation process or installed in unfavorable site conditions can result in a poor quality foundation.
"We have begun working with our managers, geologists and testing labs to review our manufacturing methods and materials to eliminate even the slightest possibility of this problem occurring with our Ready-Mix concrete. We are confident that the products we are producing today will continue to meet the needs of the surrounding region."
The statement does not address the alleged issues of foundations poured from the early 1980s to 1998, and contractors say the issues often take longer than 15 years for the concrete to show signs of failure.
What’s causing the issue has mystified homeowners, contractors and the state for close to 20 years, but Donald Childree believes he has the answer. He says an iron sulfide mineral called pyrrhotite is to blame.
Research suggests the effects of pyrrhotite in stone used as concrete aggregate could be catastrophic. Over time, water and air oxidize the pyrrhotite, creating a chemical reaction. This causes the concrete to swell and expand, leading to the cracking, and eventually raising the home from the foundation.
In one region of Quebec, Canada, the government set up an emergency fund to pay for hundreds of homes with crumbling basements affected by pyrrhotite in the concrete.
pyrrhotite is pretty rare in Connecticut, but according the U.S. Geological Survey, it is found in Willington at Becker’s Quarry. Becker’s Quarry is owned by the family that owns J.J. Mottes Company. The company confirmed the quarry is where J.J. Mottes has obtained stone used in their concrete aggregate for decades.
Sources confirm pyrrhotite was found in testing on some foundations consisting of J.J. Mottes-poured concrete. Court records reference reports describing an iron sulfide chemical reaction creating the foundation failures.
We cannot determine whether or not the mineral was present in all the failed basement walls because most were not tested, and settlements of litigation with their insurers prevent homeowners from disclosing the findings.
Linda Tofolowsky, formerly of Tolland, says she was the first homeowner to notice the intense cracks on her basement walls, a little over 10 years after they moved into a home on Kent Road South in 1985. She says her insurance company denied her claim. Tofolowsky says she tried to seek help from the town and the state, and eventually the courts.
The Tofolowskys took J.J. Mottes Company to court, alleging claims for product liability. In 2003, the company was found not liable for installing faulty concrete based on strength testing and a finding that the problems with the foundation were caused by the installer rather than a defect in concrete.
However, we found no record that the concrete from the Tofolowskys' home was tested for pyrrhotite. The court also found the Tofolowskys' claim fell outside the 10-year statute of limitations.
Walter Zaldwy built his home in 1988 in Willington. He says J.J. Mottes supplied the concrete for his foundation. He never questioned why his insurance company sent him a notice in 2008 stating his foundation would no longer be covered – until he started noticing the spider cracks on his walls growing within the last year.
"Looking back, I’m wondering, how did they get this information to decide they weren’t covering basement foundations anymore?" Zaldwy said.
Zaldwy now must decide if he can afford to pay the hefty cost of replacing the foundation or just walk away from his biggest investment.
"I spent a good part of my life trying to work and to achieve the American dream by owning the home to have it fall out from underneath me," he said.
There is some hope for homeowners. While still denying claims, insurance companies are starting to settle with some homeowners, but it often only after a long legal battle.
Ed. Note: As the Troubleshooters have reported on this issue over the past year and a half, the Joseph J. Mottes Company (JJ Mottes) has evolved its response. Click on this link to see the company’s most recent full statement to NBC Connecticut and its response to the State of Connecticut. |||||
Warning!
It seems that JavaScript is not working in your browser. It could be because it is not supported, or that JavaScript is intentionally disabled. Some of the features on CT.gov will not function properly with out javascript enabled. | – Around 1995, Linda and Robert Tofolowsky noticed the walls of the basement in their Connecticut home cracking. Their foundation had developed severe fissures, and they soon discovered other homes in the area with the same issue. Their insurance claim was denied, they got no help from the town or the state, and they lost their lawsuit against JJ Mottes, the company that installed the concrete for the foundation. In a 2001 complaint the couple filed with the Consumer Protection Department, Linda wrote that the issue needed to be made public "so that maybe someone else will not lose their biggest investment, their home." The couple ended up being just the first of hundreds of homeowners in the state whose foundations are crumbling, causing their houses to slowly collapse. "When you’re told your home is now worthless and your biggest investment is now worthless, it’s devastating," one such homeowner tells the New York Times. As the Times points out, state officials were warned about the problem by more than just the Tofolowskys in the early 2000s, and in 2003, lawmakers met with the CPD, representatives from the attorney general's office, and homeowners about the issue—but did nothing. In July 2015, WVIT did an investigative report on the foundations, prompting state officials to open an inquiry. They recently announced that the problem is at least partially caused by high levels of pyrrhotite (a mineral that can cause swelling and cracking when mixed with water) from aggregate in a local quarry used in JJ Mottes' concrete, the Hartford Courant reported last month; a spokesperson for JJ Mottes blames contractors who improperly added water to wet concrete so it would pour faster. Officials are taking steps to help homeowners, but none of those steps do much to subsidize their costs, and WVIT notes that insurance companies are only settling with some homeowners and only after "long legal battles." | [
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Kurt Busch will miss the Daytona 500, and finds himself once again fighting for his career.
Kurt Busch, right, talks with his crew chief Tony Gibson, left, in his garage during a practice session for the Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Wednesday,... (Associated Press)
A window outside driver Kurt Busch's garage stall shows a reference to NFL player Ray Rice written by a spectator at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Friday, Feb. 20, 2015. In a... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this May 17, 2014 file photo, Kurt Busch, left, walks with his girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, after arriving for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord,... (Associated Press)
Driver Kurt Busch, left, gives his girlfriend Ashley Van Metre a kiss before getting in his car during qualifying for the Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway,... (Associated Press)
Busch was suspended by NASCAR indefinitely Friday after a judge said the 2004 former champion almost surely choked and beat a former girlfriend last fall and there was a "substantial likelihood" of more domestic violence from him in the future.
The suspension came two days before the season-opening Daytona 500, and Busch immediately said he'd appeal.
Although an appeal can be heard as early as Saturday, Stewart-Haas Racing has already decided to use Regan Smith in the Daytona 500.
The move to Smith by SHR, perhaps spurred by Chevrolet's decision to suspend its affiliation with Busch on Friday, is a blow to the Busch camp.
"We ask everyone's patience as this case continues in the court of law and are confident that when the truth is known Mr. Busch will be fully vindicated and back in the driver's seat," Busch attorney Rusty Hardin said in a statement, adding the assault allegation has led to "a travesty of justice" that will become clear as Busch continues to defend himself.
Busch is the first driver suspended by NASCAR for domestic violence. Chairman Brian France had maintained the series would let the process play out before ruling on Busch's eligibility — and the series came down hard in finding that he committed actions detrimental to stock car racing and broke the series' behavioral rules.
Travis Kvapil, who qualified second for Friday night's Truck Series race, was arrested and charged with assault of his wife in 2013. NASCAR took no action against Kvapil.
But it's a different time in sports since former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice's own case of domestic violence forced leagues to take a harsh stance against participants accused of assault.
After the suspension was announced, on the glass outside of Busch's garage stall at Daytona, someone had scrawled in black marker "#41 Ray Rice." Busch drives the No. 41 Chevrolet.
In a 25-page opinion explaining why he issued the no-contact order this week, Family Court Commissioner David Jones of Delaware concluded that it was more likely than not that Busch abused Patricia Driscoll by "manually strangling" her and smashing her head into a wall inside his motorhome at Dover International Speedway last September.
The 36-year-old Busch has denied the alleged assault, which is the subject of a separate criminal investigation, but the judge said Driscoll's version of the incident was more credible than Busch's.
Driscoll said she was never motivated to have Busch punished by NASCAR.
"I reported a crime, just like anybody else who has been abused should do, because no one is above the law," Driscoll said. "I'm very encouraged that NASCAR is taking steps to recognize that domestic violence is a serious issue, and I hope that we see them develop a very clear policy on it."
It is Busch's third career suspension. He was suspended in 2012 by NASCAR for threatening a reporter, and parked for the final two races of the 2005 season by Roush-Fenway Racing after he was pulled over by police in Arizona.
He now races for SHR. Busch has 25 career wins but only one since 2011. It came last year, his first season with SHR, the team that helped resurrect his career.
Team co-owner Gene Haas hand-picked Busch to drive a car paid for out of pocket by Haas because the machine tool manufacturer wanted to see a driver take his company to victory lane. Busch was fired at the end of 2011 by Roger Penske for a series of on- and off-track incidents, and he spent two seasons driving for low-budget teams before Haas extended the olive branch.
Busch had been on a resurgence of sorts at SHR, which allowed him to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day last year. He finished sixth at Indianapolis last May and was named rookie of the race.
But his season began to unravel late last summer as his performance tailed off. Although he made the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, he was eliminated after the first round.
It was the weekend of the first elimination race, at Dover, where Driscoll alleged Busch assaulted her in his motorhome.
She said she drove to the track out of concern for Busch, who sent her alarming text messages following a poor qualifying effort. She said the two argued in the bedroom section of the motorhome before he slammed her head against a wall three times.
Driscoll did not file charges until November, and the Delaware attorney general has not decided if Busch will be charged.
But Driscoll sought a no-contact order, and the couple spent four days over December and January in a Delaware court presenting their sides. At one point, he accused of her of being a trained assassin.
SHR said only that Smith, who filled in on short notice for Tony Stewart at Watkins Glen last August, would race Sunday. No plans were announced for next week's race at Atlanta, but since Haas pays for that car specifically for Busch, the team co-owner could conceivably park it if Busch does not win his appeal. ||||| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR suspended Sprint Cup driver Kurt Busch indefinitely Friday, two days before the Daytona 500, for actions detrimental to stock car racing after a judge ruled he almost surely choked and beat a former girlfriend last fall.
Earlier Friday it was ruled that Busch smashed his ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll's head against his motor home wall Sept. 26 at Dover International Speedway, according to the conclusions of a Kent County (Del.) family court commissioner who granted Driscoll's request for a protective order Monday.
"Given the serious nature of the findings and conclusions made by the Commissioner of the Family Court of the State of Delaware, NASCAR has indefinitely suspended driver Kurt Busch, effective immediately," NASCAR said in a statement. "He will not be allowed to race nor participate in any NASCAR activities until further notice.
Editor's Picks Oreovicz: NASCAR had no choice The report issued Friday in the Delaware Family Court case between Kurt Busch and ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll left NASCAR no choice but to suspend the former Sprint Cup champion.
"Kurt Busch and his Stewart-Haas Racing team are fully aware of our position and why this decision was made. We will continue to respect the process and timetable of the authorities involved."
Busch on Friday night filed paperwork for an appeal on his suspension, which will be heard at noon ET Saturday in Daytona, NASCAR spokesman David Higdon said.
"We are extremely disappointed that NASCAR has suspended Kurt Busch," Busch's attorney, Rusty Hardin, said in a statement Friday afternoon. "We assure everyone, including NASCAR, that this action against Mr. Busch will turn out to be a travesty of justice, apparent to all, as this story continues to unfold."
Hardin, who cannot represent Busch in the NASCAR appeal because the appeal process does not allow for lawyers to represent NASCAR members, reiterated his hope that the family court commissioner reconsiders his opinion based on additional evidence that would show Driscoll is not credible.
"It is important for everyone to remember that the commissioner's report has to do with a civil, family law matter and no criminal charges have been filed against Mr. Busch," Hardin said. "We ask everyone's patience as this case continues in the court of law and are confident that when the truth is known Mr. Busch will be fully vindicated and back in the driver's seat."
NASCAR has suspended Stewart-Haas driver Kurt Busch indefinitely after a judge detailed concerns about domestic violence in a ruling Friday. Chris Trotman/NASCAR/Getty Images
NASCAR appeals are heard by a three-member panel selected from a list of former drivers, racing promoters and racing executives in the NASCAR rule book.
During the appeal, NASCAR will present its evidence, Busch will make his argument and then they both are permitted opportunities for rebuttal. Both sides can bring witnesses but not legal counsel, and the panelists can summon any NASCAR member from whom they want to hear.
If Busch loses the appeal, he can make one last appeal to former Gulfstream president Bryan Moss, NASCAR's final appeals officer. NASCAR chairman Brian France also has the ability to lift the suspension at any time.
It wasn't immediately clear if Busch wins his appeal whether he could still drive for SHR, which gets a significant amount of financial support from Chevrolet.
In her statement, Driscoll said she did not consider this a "victory."
"For victims of domestic violence there are no victories," she said. "My only hope is that the pain and trauma I suffered through this process will help other victims find their voice.
"Unfortunately we live in a culture where stories like mine are often swept under the rug out of fear and with the knowledge that for every person who shows empathy many more will seek to disparage the victim. It is bad enough to endure the actual physical abuse, but the verbal attacks that follow when a victim speaks up are sometimes just as painful."
NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell did not take questions from the media during Friday's brief news conference.
"As we stated last year, NASCAR fully recognized the serious nature of the specific situation involving Kurt Busch and really the broader issue of domestic violence. Based on our review of the available details, including the court's findings that were released earlier today, NASCAR has indefinitely suspended driver Kurt Busch." NASCAR executive VP Steve O'Donnell
"As we stated last year, NASCAR fully recognized the serious nature of the specific situation involving Kurt Busch and really the broader issue of domestic violence," O'Donnell said. "Based on our review of the available details, including the court's findings that were released earlier today, NASCAR has indefinitely suspended driver Kurt Busch."
O'Donnell, who resigned his spot on the board of Driscoll's Armed Forces Foundation late last year, disputed comments from Driscoll that indicated that other women in the NASCAR industry have been abused by others in the NASCAR community.
"NASCAR has made it very clear to our entire membership and the broader industry that any actions of abuse will not be tolerated in the industry," O'Donnell said. "We want to make it clear that any inference that there is a culture or tolerance for this type of behavior is patently false."
Busch will be replaced for the Daytona 500 by 31-year-old Regan Smith, who has one win in 172 career starts and competes full time in the Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports. Smith replaced SHR driver/co-owner Tony Stewart at Watkins Glen last August, the day after Stewart's sprint car struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. at Canandaigua Motorsports Park.
Smith will be able to practice during the 85-minute Sprint Cup practice session Saturday. Although Busch would have started 24th Sunday, Smith will have to move to the rear of the field at the start of the Daytona 500 because of the driver change.
SHR, in a news release, said that it has not determined who will drive the car beyond Daytona.
"We understand NASCAR's position regarding Kurt Busch and accept their decision," Stewart-Haas Racing executive vice president Joe Custer said in a statement.
Chevrolet was quick to suspend ties with Busch following NASCAR's announcement.
"Chevrolet has suspended its relationship with Kurt Busch indefinitely," said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet vice president of Motorsports and Performance Vehicles in a statement. "We will continue to monitor the events surrounding Mr. Busch and are prepared to take additional action if necessary."
Busch is the first driver suspended by NASCAR for domestic violence. Travis Kvapil, who qualified second for Friday night's Truck Series race, was arrested and charged with assault of his wife in 2013. NASCAR took no action against Kvapil.
A short time after the suspension was announced, on the glass outside of Busch's garage stall at Daytona, someone had scrawled in black marker "#41 Ray Rice," a reference to the former Baltimore Ravens running back whose own case of domestic violence dominated much of last year. Busch drives the No. 41 Chevrolet.
It is Busch's third career suspension. He was suspended in 2012 by NASCAR for threatening a reporter, and parked for the final two races of the 2005 season by Roush-Fenway Racing after he was pulled over by police in Arizona.
"The Court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that, on September 26, 2014, Respondent [Busch] committed an act of domestic violence against Petitioner [Driscoll] by manually strangling her by placing his left hand on her throat, while placing his right hand on her chin and face and smashing her head into the wall of his motor home," commissioner David Jones wrote in his findings and conclusions.
Regan Smith, who competes full time in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports, will fill in for Kurt Busch in Sunday's Daytona 500. Todd Warshaw/Getty Images
As part of his decision, Jones will require Busch "to be evaluated by a licensed mental health professional" and complete any further steps for treatment that person recommends. Jones wrote that he would not require Busch to enter into a "batterer's intervention program," because in his opinion, Busch did not profile as a habitual "power and control batterer." Jones characterized the incident of domestic violence as "likely situational in nature."
Busch claims Driscoll entered his motor home uninvited -- the couple had broken up a week earlier -- and he cupped her face with his hands while repeatedly asking her to leave.
In his opinion released Friday, Jones wrote that Driscoll's version of the events that night was more credible, citing, among other things, her demeanor when she recalled and described the events of that night.
"[Busch's] version of the events is implausible, does not make sense and is unlikely to be true given the totality of the other evidence admitted at trial," Jones wrote.
Busch has asked Jones to reconsider the ruling, and Jones has still not decided whether to reopen the case.
"We are confident that if the Commissioner agrees to hear newly available evidence that contradicts the testimony of Ms. Driscoll, he will be able understand the actions of that night as well as Ms. Driscoll's character and motivations and reconsider his judgment" Hardin said in Friday's statement. "He has already found that Ms. Driscoll lied under oath at least once. Our newly available evidence will make it clear that much more of her testimony was untruthful and was purposefully kept from the Commissioner by Ms. Driscoll's attempts to intimidate and threaten witnesses."
Busch told ESPN.com on Wednesday that he was "focused on racing" and declined further comment.
"It's a matter of just knowing that the truth has been told, and we'll see how things unfold," Busch said Feb. 12, the day before practice began at Daytona.
Both sides tried to shed doubt and attacked each other's credibility during the family court hearing, which at times took bizarre turns.
Driscoll characterized Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, as battling alcoholism and depression leading up to the alleged assault. Busch testified he was afraid of Driscoll, whom he believed was a trained assassin because of the stories and photos she had shared with him.
"The assertion that [Busch] would be chastened from assaulting [Driscoll] for fear of the possibility of physical injury is further discredited, in the Court's view, by the fact that [Busch] makes his living risking his life on an almost daily basis by aggressively driving a race car at speeds often approaching 200 miles per hour in close contact with others driving in the same manner, at the same speed," Jones wrote.
Busch opted to get his side of the story out in court over two days of Delaware family court hearings in December and two more days in January.
Busch is basing his request for reconsideration on the protective order on new evidence his attorneys claim shed more doubt on Driscoll's claims and reinforce their argument that Driscoll is a spurned lover looking to ruin the NASCAR driver's career. Included in that evidence, according to the motion for reconsideration, is Beverly Young, whom Driscoll considers her mother although they are not biologically related, stating that she did not believe Driscoll's claims.
Busch, the 2004 NASCAR champion, has 25 career wins but only one since 2011. It came last year, his first season with SHR, the team that helped resurrect his career.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. ||||| Kurt Busch exits Family Court in Dover on Jan. 12. A Court Commissioner on Friday said it is more likely than not that Busch committed an act of abuse in September in Dover. (Photo: DOUG CURRAN/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS JOURNAL)
A Kent County Family Court Commissioner said it is more likely than not that NASCAR's Kurt Busch committed an act of abuse last September.
Commissioner David Jones in a written opinion filed Friday wrote that evidence presented during the four-day protection order hearing was enough to convince him that Busch had used his left hand to manually strangle his ex-girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, while placing his right hand against her chin and face, causing her head to "forcefully strike the interior wall" of Busch's motorhome. The alleged incident happened during raceweek in Busch's motorhome at Dover International Speedway.
Busch's attorneys deny Driscoll's allegations of abuse.
Jones also wrote that there could be future acts of abuse against intimate partners because of his "propensity to lose control of his behavior and act out violently in response to stressful, disappointing and/or frustrating situations involving his racing."
Jones said the incident was "likely situational in nature" where the "stressors of the situation" overwhelmed Busch's ability to "cope and control his tendency to act out violently in response to stress and frustration, causing him to 'snap' and assault" Driscoll.
Friday evening NASCAR announced it would suspend Busch indefinitely for "actions detrimental to stock car racing," according to a statement. Busch, the 2004 Sprint Cup champion, was scheduled to participate in Sunday's Daytona 500.
"Given the serious nature of the findings and conclusions made by the Commissioner of the Family Court of the State of Delaware, NASCAR has indefinitely suspended driver Kurt Busch, effective immediately. He will not be allowed to race nor participate in any NASCAR activities until further notice," the e-mailed release said. "Kurt Busch and his Stewart-Haas Racing team are fully aware of our position and why this decision was made. We will continue to respect the process and timetable of the authorities involved."
Carolyn McNeice, Driscoll's attorney, said in an email that she was very pleased with the opinion's contents.
In a statement, Driscoll said she hopes what she went through will help other women.
"For victims of domestic violence there are no 'victories.' My only hope is that the pain and trauma I suffered through this process will help other victims find their voice. Unfortunately we live in a culture where stories like mine are often swept under the rug out of fear and with the knowledge that for every person who shows empathy many more will seek to disparage the victim. It is bad enough to endure the actual physical abuse but the verbal attacks that follow when a victim speaks up are sometimes just as painful.
"Today NASCAR took an important step and deserves to be commended. The next steps are to develop a thorough process and policies that reenforce the organization's position it took today: Domestic violence will not be tolerated in NASCAR."
Busch's attorney, Rusty Hardin, said in an e-mailed statement that his team was "extremely disappointed" that NASCAR suspended the driver. He said he plans an immediate appeal and is confident that Busch will be vindicated and back in the driver's seat once the truth is known.
"We assure everyone, including NASCAR, that this action against Mr. Busch will turn out to be a travesty of justice, apparent to all, as this story continues to unfold," Hardin said in the e-mailed statement.
"We are confident that if the Commissioner agrees to hear newly available evidence that contradicts the testimony of Ms. Driscoll, he will be able understand the actions of that night as well as Ms. Driscoll's character and motivations and reconsider his judgment. He has already found that Ms. Driscoll lied under oath at least once," he added. "Our newly available evidence will make it clear that much more of her testimony was untruthful and was purposefully kept from the Commissioner by Ms. Driscoll's attempts to intimidate and threaten witnesses."
Jones's opinion comes after he issued a protection order against Busch on Monday. The civil order, good until 2016, said Busch has to stay 100 yards away from Driscoll, her home and workplace. At NASCAR races he has to maintain the maximum "practicable" distance from her and not attempt to contact her, according to the order. Driscoll is the president of the Armed Forces Foundation, which holds events at NASCAR races across the country.
Busch is also not allowed to contact Driscoll by phone, email or any other means and has to be evaluated for mental health problems related to anger control and impulse control. He also may not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms or ammunition.
Busch's attorneys filed a motion Thursday to re-open the protection order hearing. They claim that multiple witnesses have come forward since the hearing's conclusion and provided information that contradicts versions of the events, and asked Jones to delay his opinion until ruling on his motion.
In a letter to attorneys, Jones did not discount that motion and wrote he decided to publish the opinion, as scheduled, because his reasoning may offer some clarity regarding the motion to reopen.
Busch's attorneys said that Driscoll had repeatedly lied on the stand and committed perjury. In his opinion, Jones wrote that he could not find that any conflict or contradiction that constituted perjury. Discrepancies in testimony were likely the result of a misunderstanding or misremembering by Driscoll because of her emotional state, rather than intentional falsehood, Jones wrote.
Rusty Hardin, Busch's attorney, requested the Delaware Attorney General's Office to investigate separate allegations that Driscoll had tampered with witnesses. A spokesman from the Attorney General's office confirmed an email from Busch's attorneys and referred it to the Dover Police Department.
The Attorney General's office has yet to rule on the criminal charges filed against Busch last year.
In an e-mail, a spokesman said they had no comment on the court opinion or Busch's suspension.
Read or Share this story: http://delonline.us/1EyX9Ro | – One of NASCAR's biggest races runs tomorrow, but one of NASCAR's biggest names will not be there when the Daytona 500 begins. The sport suspended Kurt Busch indefinitely yesterday over allegations that he beat and choked his then-girlfriend last fall, reports ESPN. The move came after a Family Court judge in Delaware concluded that Busch likely abused Patricia Driscoll, "manually strangling" her and causing her head to slam against a wall. What's more, he wrote that there was a "substantial likelihood" of more domestic violence from Busch. The judge cited Busch's "propensity to lose control of his behavior and act out violently in response to stressful, disappointing and/or frustrating situations involving his racing," reports the News Journal. The ruling didn't come in a criminal trial but in a civil proceeding in which the judge awarded Driscoll an order of protection from Busch. He has denied the allegations and is appealing the NASCAR suspension. The alleged assault remains the subject of a separate criminal investigation, reports AP. (At a court hearing last month, Busch said Driscoll is a trained assassin.) | [
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THIS IS THE ORIGINAL POST MARCH 14 THAT IS LINKED IN MANY PLACES...
FOR MORE RECENT POSTINGS GO TO THE TOP OF MY GOOGLE + PAGE.
MH370 A different point of view. Pulau Langkawi 13,000 runway.
A lot of speculation about MH370. Terrorism, hijack, meteors. I cannot believe the analysis on CNN - almost disturbing. I tend to look for a more simple explanation of this event.
Loaded 777 departs midnight from Kuala to Beijing. Hot night. Heavy aircraft. About an hour out across the gulf towards Vietnam the plane goes dark meaning the transponder goes off and secondary radar tracking goes off.
Two days later we hear of reports that Malaysian military radar (which is a primary radar meaning the plane is being tracked by reflection rather than by transponder interrogation response) has tracked the plane on a southwesterly course back across the Malay Peninsula into the straits of Malacca.
When I heard this I immediately brought up Google Earth and I searched for airports in proximity to the track towards southwest.
The left turn is the key here. This was a very experienced senior Captain with 18,000 hours. Maybe some of the younger pilots interviewed on CNN didn't pick up on this left turn. We old pilots were always drilled to always know the closest airport of safe harbor while in cruise. Airports behind us, airports abeam us and airports ahead of us. Always in our head. Always. Because if something happens you don't want to be thinking what are you going to do - you already know what you are going to do. Instinctively when I saw that left turn with a direct heading I knew he was heading for an airport. Actually he was taking a direct route to Palau Langkawi a 13,000 foot strip with an approach over water at night with no obstacles. He did not turn back to Kuala Lampur because he knew he had 8,000 foot ridges to cross. He knew the terrain was friendlier towards Langkawi and also a shorter distance.
Take a look on Google Earth at this airport. This pilot did all the right things. He was confronted by some major event onboard that made him make that immediate turn back to the closest safe airport.
For me the loss of transponders and communications makes perfect sense if a fire. There was most likely a fire or electrical fire. In the case of fire the first response if to pull all the main busses and restore circuits one by one until you have isolated the bad one.
If they pulled the busses the plane indeed would go silent. It was probably a serious event and they simply were occupied with controlling the plane and trying to fight the fire. Aviate, Navigate and lastly communicate. There are two types of fires. Electrical might not be as fast and furious and there might or might not be incapacitating smoke. However there is the possibility given the timeline that perhaps there was an overheat on one of the front landing gear tires and it blew on takeoff and started slowly burning. Yes this happens with underinflated tires. Remember heavy plane, hot night, sea level, long run takeoff. There was a well known accident in Nigeria of a DC8 that had a landing gear fire on takeoff. A tire fire once going would produce horrific incapacitating smoke. Yes, pilots have access to oxygen masks but this is a no no with fire. Most have access to a smoke hood with a filter but this will only last for a few minutes depending on the smoke level. (I used to carry one of my own in a flight bag and I still carry one in my briefcase today when I fly).
What I think happened is that they were overcome by smoke and the plane just continued on the heading probably on George (autopilot) until either fuel exhaustion or fire destroyed the control surfaces and it crashed. I said four days ago you will find it along that route - looking elsewhere was pointless.
This pilot, as I say, was a hero struggling with an impossible situation trying to get that plane to Langkawi. No doubt in my mind. That's the reason for the turn and direct route. A hijack would not have made that deliberate left turn with a direct heading for Langkawi. It would probably have weaved around a bit until the hijackers decided on where they were taking it.
Surprisingly none of the reporters , officials, other pilots interviewed have looked at this from the pilot's viewpoint. If something went wrong where would he go? Thanks to Google earth I spotted Langkawi in about 30 seconds, zoomed in and saw how long the runway was and I just instinctively knew this pilot knew this airport. He had probably flown there many times. I guess we will eventually find out when you help me spread this theory on the net and some reporters finally take a look on Google earth and put 2 and 2 together. Also a look at the age and number of cycles on those nose tires might give us a good clue too.
Fire in an aircraft demands one thing - you get the machine on the ground as soon as possible. There are two well remembered experiences in my memory. The AirCanada DC9 which landed I believe in Columbus Ohio in the eighties. That pilot delayed descent and bypassed several airports. He didn't instinctively know the closest airports. He got it on the ground eventually but lost 30 odd souls. In the 1998 crash of Swissair DC-10 off Nova Scotia was another example of heroic pilots. They were 15 minutes out of Halifax but the fire simply overcame them and they had to ditch in the ocean. Just ran out of time. That fire incidentally started when the aircraft was about an hour out of Kennedy. Guess what the transponders and communications were shut off as they pulled the busses.
Get on Google Earth and type in Pulau Langkawi and then look at it in relation to the radar track heading. 2+2=4 That for me is the simple explanation why it turned and headed in that direction.
Smart pilot. Just didn't have the time.
If you are reading this the first time please read the two further comments containing corrections and additions to the above in the string of the comments below
Thank you.
||||| Has someone finally solved the MH370 mystery?
Photo by TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images
Chris Goodfellow doesn’t have much patience for the uncertainty concerning Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The instrument-rated Florida pilot found the theories and countertheories mooted on outlets like CNN “almost disturbing.” (I’ve appeared on CNN to discuss Flight 370, but I’ll try not to take Goodfellow’s remarks personally.) So he set about cutting through the clutter, using nothing more than the machete-like incisiveness of his own intellect. “I tend to look for a more simple explanation,” he writes in a Google Plus post that was republished on Wired.
As he read up on the incident, he got to the part where Malaysia military radar detected the aircraft making a 90-degree turn to the left and leaving its planned flight path, just after it had passed the last navigational waypoint in Malaysian territory, and after its transponder and ADS-B (“Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast”) reporting system had stopped working. His eye followed the track that the airplane made as it headed west, toward the Malay peninsula and to the Andaman Sea beyond. And there, close by the western shore of the peninsula and just a few miles south of the plane’s recorded track, he spotted the island of Langkawi. In a flash, everything made sense.
“Thanks to Google earth I spotted Langkawi in about 30 seconds, zoomed in and saw how long the runway was,” Goodfellow wrote on his Google Plus page on March 14. “I just instinctively knew this pilot knew this airport.”
He knew what the lost pilot and co-pilot had been thinking when they made that turn, and it was something he’d thought himself, while behind the yoke of an aircraft, many times before. “We old pilots were always drilled to always know the closest airport of safe harbor while in cruise,” he wrote. “Airports behind us, airports abeam us and airports ahead of us. Always in our head. Always.”
In the scenario that Goodfellow laid out, MH370 suffered a fire in the cockpit as it climbed to cruise altitude en route to Beijing. Sensing the urgency of the crisis, the flight crew turned toward Langkawi and its 13,000-foot runway, while at the same time pulling circuit breakers to stop the fire. But it was no use. The smoke rendered the men unconscious, and “the flight continued on deep into the south Indian ocean” until it ran out of fuel and crashed.
In a stroke, Goodfellow had solved the mystery of MH370—not only what caused the crash, but where the wreckage would be found. What’s more, his revelation rehabilitated the reputations of the captain and first officer, who have come under an increasing cloud of suspicion. “This pilot,” Goodfellow wrote, “was hero struggling with an impossible situation. … Smart pilot. Just didn’t have time.”
Goodfellow’s posting may be the most (first?) popular thing ever to have come out of Google Plus. After exploding across Twitter, it was reprinted by Wired and praised by James Fallows of the Atlantic, who wrote, “his explanation makes better sense than anything else I’ve heard so far.”
Goodfellow’s account is emotionally compelling, and it is based on some of the most important facts that have been established so far. And it is simple—to a fault. Take other major findings of the investigation into account, and Goodfellow’s theory falls apart. For one thing, while it’s true that MH370 did turn toward Langkawi and wound up overflying it, whoever was at the controls continued to maneuver after that point as well, turning sharply right at VAMPI waypoint, then left again at GIVAL. Such vigorous navigating would have been impossible for unconscious men.
Goodfellow’s theory fails further when one remembers the electronic ping detected by the Inmarsat satellite at 8:11 on the morning of March 8. According to analysis provided by the Malaysian and United States governments, the pings narrowed the location of MH370 at that moment to one of two arcs, one in Central Asia and the other in the southern Indian Ocean. As MH370 flew from its original course toward Langkawi, it was headed toward neither. Without human intervention—which would go against Goodfellow’s theory—it simply could not have reached the position we know it attained at 8:11 a.m.
To make a good theory, Einstein is said to have asserted, “everything should be kept as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Unfortunately, Christopher Goodfellow’s wildly popular theory errs on the side of too much elegance.
Read the rest of Slate’s coverage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
Update, March 18, 2014: This blog post was revised to make consistent which version of Goodfellow’s article was used for quotations. The quotes are now all from Goodfellow’s Google Plus account, rather than the Wired version. | – A veteran pilot's theory about what happened to Flight 370 dazzled the Internet yesterday, but aviation writer Jeff Wise is poking holes in it today at Slate. If you missed it, pilot Chris Goodfellow speculated at Google Plus that a fire aboard the missing Malaysian jet caused its disappearance. The pilots went off course deliberately to reach the nearest airport—on the island of Langkawi—but the smoke got to them before they could land, and the plane kept flying on its own over the ocean until it crashed. A world desperate for answers soaked it up, but Wise says the theory doesn't hold up when other facts about Flight 370 are considered. Specifically: "While it’s true that MH370 did turn toward Langkawi and wound up overflying it, whoever was at the controls continued to maneuver after that point as well," writes Wise. One subsequent waypoint picked up a sharp right turn and another a left turn. "Such vigorous navigating would have been impossible for unconscious men." A final electronic ping picked up from the plane put it on one of two paths, one over central Asia as far as Kazakhstan and the other out over the Indian Ocean. "As MH370 flew from its original course toward Langkawi, it was headed toward neither," writes Wise. "Without human intervention—which would go against Goodfellow’s theory—it simply could not have reached the position we know it attained" at 8:11am on March 8, the time of that last ping. The bottom line is that "Goodfellow's theory falls apart," writes Wise. Click for his full column. Or to read about how files are missing from the senior pilot's flight-simulator system. | [
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The White House has issued a clarification. When the president said if you like your insurance plan you can keep it, what he meant was you can keep it if he likes it.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans who are getting policy cancellation notices this month can't be as surprised as they pretend to be. President Obama made it clear at his 2010... ||||| Senator Ted Cruz (Reuters/Jim Bourg)
Foes of Obamacare are excitedly citing a rash of new stories claiming untold Americans are “losing” their insurance, as CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell puts it. One of them is this NBC News story, which reports that “millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years.”
Critics of the law are right to ask whether it is having an adverse impact on these millions of Americans. And the White House could have been clearer in laying the groundwork for this political argument: It wasn’t sufficient to say people who like their plans will be able to keep it, which is narrowly untrue.
But the GOP outrage about Americans supposedly “losing” coverage is largely just more of the same old misdirection. It’s a subset of a larger Republican refusal to have an actual debate about the law’s tradeoffs — one in which the law’s benefits for millions of Americans are also reckoned with in a serious way.
On the substance of this argument, Igor Volsky has a good response, noting that these Americans aren’t “losing” coverage at all:
Individuals receiving cancellation notices will have a choice of enrolling in subsidized insurance in the exchanges and will probably end up paying less for more coverage. Those who don’t qualify for the tax credits will be paying more for comprehensive insurance that will be there for them when they become sick (and could actually end up spending less for health care since more services will now be covered). They will also no longer be part of a system in which the young and healthy are offered cheap insurance premiums because their sick neighbors are priced out or denied coverage. That, after all, is the whole point of reform.
But many foes of Obamacare refuse to grapple seriously with the basic tradeoff at the core of the law. For a fair look at whether this tradeoff is “worth it,” see Jonathan Cohn.
While it is too soon to assess the true dimensions of this tradeoff, the debate over it is entirely legitimate. It is the policy debate we should be having. But some Obamacare foes don’t even acknowledge that the law involves a tradeoff at all. Only the law’s downsides, and not the millions who stand to gain — many old, poor or sick — must be acknowledged.
As the Post’s Glenn Kessler argued in debunking some of Ted Cruz’s rhetoric about “millions” losing from Obamacare: “The full impact of the health-care law will not be known for years, and there are bound to be winners and losers in any major change in social policy…he does not allow at all for the possibility that millions of people are benefiting from the law — and that quite likely the number of winners from the law is larger than the losers.”
All of this flows from a basic difference between the two parties. Most Dems believe the Federal government has a legitimate role in expanding health coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans — through more government oversight over the health system, and, yes, government spending that is to some degree (though the extent is not yet clear) redistributive. Most Republicans don’t believe this. Conservatives such as Charles Cooke forthrightly defend that position. But Congressional Republicans are trying to obscure the true nature of this difference, by pushing GOP reform ideas that are advertised as a federal solution for the “vulnerable,” even though they almost certainly would cover a very small fraction of those who will benefit from Obamacare. The core difference here can’t be papered over, and indeed it’s revealed anew in the refusal of many to acknowledge the law’s benefits for millions.
Meanwhile, because the only acceptable position on the law for Republicans is to demand full repeal, they spend too little time prioritizing which parts of the law they’d want to change and won’t engage in bipartisan fixes to it that GOP-aligned constituencies want.
It’s puzzling. If public opinion is on the side of Republicans on Obamacare, why can’t we have a normal debate about the actual tradeoffs at the core of the law and about fundamental questions as to the proper federal role in solving health care problems afflicting tens of millions of Americans?
*************************************************************************
* WHAT TO WATCH ON OBAMACARE TODAY: Marilyn Tavenner, who oversaw the creation of the problem-plagued Obamacare website rollout, is set to face a grilling from House Republicans, who will press her on what the administration knew about the problems and when. You can be certain they will demand to know how many people have enrolled on the federally-run exchanges.
There is still time, however, for enough people to sign on if the website gets fixed by the end of November. As for today’s hearings, there is no question that real Congressional oversight would be welcome in this situation, but the question remains whether House Republicans are capable of supplying it.
* OBAMACARE’S WORST CASE SCENARIO: Jonathan Cohn games it out, concluding that even if the website isn’t fixed by the end of November, the law will likely survive. I think Cohn is right to note that one of the main threats here is that bad press “will make the law’s defenders too skittish.”
* THE NSA IS OUT OF CONTROL: Eugene Robinson nails it:
The National Security Agency snooped on the cellphone conversations of German Chancellor Angela Merkel? Perhaps for as long as a decade? And President Obama didn’t know a thing about it? Either somebody’s lying or Obama needs to acknowledge that the NSA, in its quest for omniscience beyond anything Orwell could have imagined, is simply out of control.
Of course, it’s possible both are true, but either way, the latter point seems inarguable.
* DEMS TO PUSH DEBT CEILING REFORM: The Hill reports:
A group of Senate Democrats is slated Tuesday to introduce a plan allowing the president to raise the debt ceiling without the approval of Congress — a tactic dubbed the “McConnell Rule.”
This would disable debt limit extortion permanently, and if Republicans oppose it, Dems will cite it as evidence that Republicans want to reserve the ability for more of this extortion later.
* JOHN KASICH DECRIES “WAR ON THE POOR”: This is interesting: Ohio GOP Governor John Kasich is implicitly criticizing his own party with a robust defense of the social safety net:
“I’m concerned about the fact there seems to be a war on the poor,” he said, sitting at the head of a burnished table as members of his cabinet lingered after a meeting. “That if you’re poor, somehow you’re shiftless and lazy.” “You know what?” he said. “The very people who complain ought to ask their grandparents if they worked at the W.P.A.”
Kasich recently pushed through a version of a Medicaid expansion that extended coverage to 275,000 Ohioans, angering conservatives, a sign that over time, GOP governors will probably end up bucking the Tea Party demand that they do everything possible to prevent Obamacare’s benefits from helping their own constituents.
* WHY BUSINESS LEADERS SHOULD DECRY THE SEQUESTER: The Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib makes a smart point: Business leaders in particularly should be troubled by the sequester, because it is slashing funding for the kind of basic government-funded research that has historically given the U.S. a competitive edge.
In theory, this would be another area — like the debt ceiling — where a wedge has opened up between Tea Party Republicans and the pragmatic GOP-aligned business community. It would be interesting if business leaders (who tend to support GOP fiscal priorities) to got involved in the push for a sequester replacement.
* AND DEMS HEAD FOR VICTORY IN VIRGINIA: A new Post poll finds that Dem Terry McAuliffe has opened up a double digit lead over Ken Cuccinelli, 51-39. McAuliffe leads among women by 24 points in a race that’s been partly about the Republican’s stand on women’s health issues.
Only 32 percent of likely Virginia voters view the national GOP favorably, while 65 percent view it unfavorably. Among independents: 25-69. Among moderates: 23-74. Those are striking numbers in a purple state that is pivotal in presidential elections. Also: McAuliffe is winning with a liberal agenda on social issues, a sign of shifting demographics that are expanding core Dem constituencies.
What else? |||||
(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
“That means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.”
— President Obama, speech to the American Medical Association, June 15, 2009 (as the health-care law was being written.)
“And if you like your insurance plan, you will keep it. No one will be able to take that away from you. It hasn’t happened yet. It won’t happen in the future.”
— Obama, remarks in Portland, April 1, 2010, after the health-care law was signed into law.
“FACT: Nothing in #Obamacare forces people out of their health plans. No change is required unless insurance companies change existing plans.”
— tweet by Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, Oct. 28, 2013, after NBC News airs a report that the Obama administration knew “millions” could not keep their health insurance.
Many readers have asked us to step back into time and review these statements by the president now that it appears that as many as 2 million people may need to get a new insurance plan as the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, goes into effect in 2014. As we were considering those requests, one of the president’s most senior advisers then tweeted a statement on the same issue that cried out for fact checking.
The Facts
The president’s pledge that “if you like your insurance, you will keep it” is one of the most memorable of his presidency. It was also an extraordinarily bold — and possibly foolish — pledge, unless he thought he simply could dictate exactly how the insurance industry must work.
At the time, some observers noted the problems with Obama’s promise.
After Obama made his speech before the AMA, the Associated Press ran a smart analysis — “Promises, Promises: Obama’s Health Plan Guarantee” — that demonstrated how it would be all but impossible for the president to keep that pledge. The article noted that the Congressional Budget Office assumed that 10 million Americans would need to seek new insurance under the Senate version of the bill.
Meanwhile, in the Republican weekly address on Aug. 24, 2009, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a doctor, made this point: “On the stump, the president regularly tells Americans that ‘if you like your plan, you can keep your plan.’ But if you read the bill, that just isn’t so. For starters, within five years, every health-care plan will have to meet a new federal definition for coverage — one that your current plan might not match, even if you like it.”
One might excuse the president for making an aspirational pledge as the health-care bill was being drafted, but it turns out he kept saying it after the bill was signed into law. By that point, there should have been no question about the potential impact of the law on insurance plans, especially in the individual market.
As we have noted, a key part of the law is forcing insurers to offer an “essential health benefits” package, providing coverage in 10 categories. The list includes: ambulatory patient services; emergency services; hospitalization; maternity and newborn care; mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment; prescription drugs; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; laboratory services; preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management; and pediatric services, including oral and vision care.
For some plans, this would be a big change. In 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services noted: “62 percent of enrollees do not have coverage for maternity services; 34 percent of enrollees do not have coverage for substance abuse services; 18 percent of enrollees do not have coverage for mental health services; 9 percent of enrollees do not have coverage for prescription drugs.”
The law did allow “grandfathered” plans — for people who had obtained their insurance before the law was signed on March 23, 2010 — to escape this requirement and some other aspects of the law. But the regulations written by HHS while implementing the law set some tough guidelines, so that if an insurance company makes changes to a plan’s benefits or how much members pay through premiums, co-pays or deductibles, then a person’s plan likely loses that status.
If you dig into the regulations (go to page 34560), you will see that HHS wrote them extremely tight. One provision says that if co-payment increases by more than $5, plus medical cost of inflation, then the plan can no longer be grandfathered. (With last year’s inflation rate of 4 percent, that means the co-pay could not increase by more than $5.20. *Update: Oops, this figure is not correct. See note below.) Another provision says the co-insurance rate could not be increased at all above the level it was on March 23, 2010.
While one might applaud an effort to rid the country of inadequate insurance, the net effect is that over time, the plans would no longer meet the many tests for staying grandfathered. Already, the percentage of people who get coverage from their job via a grandfathered plan has dropped from 56 percent in 2011 to 36 percent in 2013.
In the individual insurance market, few plans were expected to meet the “grandfathered” requirements, which is why many people are now receiving notices that their old plan is terminated and they need to sign up for different coverage. Again, this should be no surprise. As HHS noted in a footnote of a report earlier this year: “We note that, as the Affordable Care Act is implemented, we expect grandfathered coverage to diminish, particularly in the individual market.”
Indeed, at least six states — Virginia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Wyoming and Kansas — require insurance companies to cancel existing policies, rather than amend them, if the grandfathered coverage lapses.
Now, it’s important to note that many people — perhaps a large majority — are receiving notices that they have lost their insurance plan because they were never grandfathered in the first place. In other words, they got a plan after the bill was signed into law back in 2010. If that’s the case, they have no option but to accept the more comprehensive insurance mandated by the law.
Still, it’s worth remembering that insurance companies pressed throughout the health-care debate to allow people to keep the policy they had effective at the end of 2013. The consequences of the unusual March 23, 2010, cut-off date are now being felt. HHS, when it drafted the interim rules, estimated that between 40 and 67 percent of policies in the individual market are in effect for less than one year. “These estimates assume that the policies that terminate are replaced by new individual policies, and that these new policies are not, by definition, grandfathered,” the rules noted. (See page 34553.)
Moreover, it’s certainly incorrect to claim, as some Republicans have, that people are losing insurance coverage. Instead, in virtually all cases, it’s being replaced with probably better (and possibly more expensive) insurance.
In recent days, administration officials have argued that the plans that are going away are “substandard” and lacked essential protections — and that many people may qualify for tax credits to mitigate the higher premiums that may result from the new requirements.
“Now folks are transitioning to the new standards of the Affordable Care Act which guarantee you can’t be denied, you won’t be kicked off of a policy because you developed a problem, you may be eligible for tax credits, depending on your income,” said Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “So these are important protections that are now available through the Affordable Care Act.”
Or, as White House spokesman Jay Carney put it: “It’s correct that substandard plans that don’t provide minimum services that have a lot of fine print that leaves consumers in the lurch, often because of annual caps or lifetime caps or carve-outs for some preexisting conditions, those are no longer allowed — because the Affordable Care Act is built on the premise that health care is not a privilege, it’s a right, and there should be minimum standards for the plans available to Americans across the country.”
But such assertions do not really explain the president’s promise — or Jarrett’s tweet. There may be a certain percentage of people who were happy with their “substandard” plan, presumably because it cost relatively little. And while Jarrett claimed that “nothing” in the law is forcing people out of their plans “unless insurance companies change plans,” she is describing rules written by the president’s aides that were designed to make it difficult for plans to remain grandfathered for very long.
As the HHS footnote mentioned above stated: “We note that, as the Affordable Care Act is implemented, we expect grandfathered coverage to diminish, particularly in the individual market.”
The Pinocchio Test
The administration is defending this pledge with a rather slim reed — that there is nothing in the law that makes insurance companies force people out of plans they were enrolled in before the law passed. That explanation conveniently ignores the regulations written by the administration to implement the law. Moreover, it also ignores the fact that the purpose of the law was to bolster coverage and mandate a robust set of benefits, whether someone wanted to pay for it or not.
The president’s statements were sweeping and unequivocal — and made both before and after the bill became law. The White House now cites technicalities to avoid admitting that he went too far in his repeated pledge, which, after all, is one of the most famous statements of his presidency.
The president’s promise apparently came with a very large caveat: “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan — if we deem it to be adequate.”
Four Pinocchios
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*Update: A reader, in a post on the Daily Kos, pointed out that we had incorrectly described the effect of this regulation concerning copays. The medical inflation rate that should be used is not the annual rate, but rather the total since the enactment of the law. Moreover, there is an alternative calculation that allows for even bigger increases for plans that had copays at $18 and above when the law was enacted. So, rather than $5.20, as originally stated in the column, it would be $5.90 for copays below $18, and then progressively higher after that.
Here’s the math on those calculations. The regulations set the base for calculating medical inflation as the overall medical care component of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI–U) (unadjusted) published by the Department of Labor. The number for March 2010 is 387.142 and the figure for September 2013 is 457.458. The difference is 70.316. Dividing that by 387.142 yields an inflation rate of 18 percent. (One of the examples in the rule suggests an inflation rate of 22 percent, but that was only illustrative.)
So $5 plus $5 x .18 equals $5.90. But as the reader pointed out, the rule allows for an alternative method, in which the copay is multiplied by the inflation rate plus an additional 15 percentage points. That gets you to 33 percent. The insurer can use whichever number is higher. So here is how it works for various levels of copays:
$0: increase capped at $5.90
$5: increase capped at $5.90
$10: increase capped at $5.90
$15: increase capped at $5.90
$20: increase capped at $6.60
$25: increase capped at $8.25
$30: increase capped at $9.90
We always welcome input from readers, especially if they point out a potential error in fact or logic. ||||| Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
During the public debate over health care in 2009 and 2010, no matter how tightly you may have shut your door, there was one piece of information it was impossible to avoid: the president's promise that if you liked your doctor and your health care plan you would be able to keep it. So it was a surprise to many people to get a letter like the one Independence Blue Cross sent its customers weeks ago. It said that as a result of the Affordable Care Act, "your current plan will be discontinued effective January 1, 2014, and you will need to select a new plan by the end of December to avoid any interruption in coverage."
John Dickerson John Dickerson is a Slate political columnist, the moderator of CBS’s Face the Nation, and author of Whistlestop and On Her Trail.
That wasn't what the president promised. But wait, the president can explain. It's not what we think. People won’t have the same insurance—they will have better insurance, administration officials assure. That's not the way some of the people receiving these letters see it. The president's original promise was so ironclad and repeated so often that any explanation now sounds like dissembling.
When healthcare.gov launched with the fanfare and success of a North Korean missile, the president insisted that Obamacare was more than a website. The website might be a mess, but the underlying product was sound. Now, it's Republicans who are using this exact phrase. Like the president, GOP leaders want people to focus on the larger law. You can fix a website, they say, but you can't improve the law.
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What started as a website debacle is growing into a relitigation of the underlying operation. The Affordable Care Act passed with cracks and inconsistencies that are now re-emerging in the context of the website's bad launch. In some cases that simply gives Republicans new lines of attack. In others, like this argument over keeping your old health care, the failure of the site is weakening the administration's ability to engage in those old debates.
The matter at issue here only affects the 5 percent of the population that buys health care in the individual market, compared to the 80 percent who get health care through their companies. The president's press secretary, Jay Carney, pointed this out several times in his daily briefing Tuesday to put the controversy in perspective. “You would think in some of the coverage over the last several days we were talking about 75 percent,” he said. Fair enough, but the president's claim about keeping coverage was always about more than a sliver of people signing up for Obamacare which is why it has the ability to resonate beyond the audience directly affected by it.
The president's original promise was so ironclad and repeated so often that any explanation now sounds like dissembling.
Let's go back in time. During the debate over the law, the president had a difficult balancing act. He had to argue that the status quo in health care was a disaster while at the same time not threatening the status quo for those people who were happy with their health care or who feared it would get worse under his changes. A CBS poll at the time showed that people were quite afraid that whatever the president did, it would hurt their plans. Sixty-nine percent worried that the ACA would affect the quality of their care. Almost three-quarters thought it would limit their access. There was a lot of pressure on the president to send the message that nothing would change.
In the summer of 2009, the president began to tailor his message to assuage the fears of these very people. If you liked what you had, it wasn’t going to change. That was a broad and simplified claim and the press called him on it. The president could never make that promise. He didn't have the power to keep insurance companies from changing their policies in response to the law. Nevertheless, the president continued to make the claim in the desperate attempt to sell his unpopular plan.
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This was a time bomb embedded in the legislation. It might have been mitigated if the website had worked. If it had been humming as administration officials so fervently hoped, there would be no broader context for debates about whether the president is living up to his promises. And in this specific instance, the flourishing of the site might have offered loads of examples of people in that individual market whose plans had only changed for the better. Of course, that’s not what happened.
The president's message about his signature law has always been: It gets better, I promise. That was always an uphill battle. The benefits of the law were strung out over time, making it harder for people to recognize a payoff. "Trust me" claims clash with people's mistrust of politicians and government programs.
When the website doesn't work and the promises of 2009 and 2010 are revised, questions of credibility infect everything the administration says. This can lead to a death spiral as administration officials make bold assertions to distract from the current challenges. White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett tweeted Monday night: "FACT: Nothing in #Obamacare forces people out of their health plans. No change is required unless insurance companies change existing plans." Of course the insurance companies wouldn't have had to change plans if it hadn’t been for Obamacare. This is spinning—which is to be expected from a president's defender—but its legalistic dissembling seems particularly weak in light of the president's initial promises. (It isn’t the only time the administration has claimed a FACT recently about health care that isn't one). ||||| Jonah Goldberg October 30, 2013 12:00 AM @JonahNRO by
The president was deceiving either himself or the rest of us about Obamacare.
‘All we’ve been hearing the last three years is if you like your policy you can keep it. . . . I’m infuriated because I was lied to,” one woman told the Los Angeles Times, as part of a story on how some middle-class Californians have been stunned to learn the real costs of Obamacare.
And that lie looks like the biggest lie about domestic policy ever uttered by a U.S. president.
The most famous presidential lies have to do with misconduct (Richard Nixon’s “I am not a crook” or Bill Clinton’s “I did not have sexual relations”) or war. Woodrow Wilson campaigned on the slogan “He kept us out of war” and then plunged us into a calamitous war. Franklin D. Roosevelt made a similar vow: “I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.”
Roosevelt knew he was making false promises. He explained to an aide: “If someone attacks us, it isn’t a foreign war, is it?” When his own son questioned his honesty, FDR replied: “If I don’t say I hate war, then people are going to think I don’t hate war. . . . If I don’t say I won’t send our sons to fight on foreign battlefields, then people will think I want to send them. . . . So you play the game the way it has been played over the years, and you play to win.”
The burning question about Barack Obama is whether he was simply “playing to win” and therefore lying on purpose, or whether his statements about Obamacare were just another example of, as Obama once put it, “I actually believe my own” spin, though he used another word.
“No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people,” he told the American Medical Association in 2009. “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.”
No matter how you slice it, that was a lie. As many as 16 million Americans on the individual health-insurance market may lose their insurance policies. Just in the last month, hundreds of thousands have been notified by their insurers that their policies will be canceled. In fact, it appears that more Americans may have lost coverage than gotten it since Healthcare.gov went “live” (a term one must use advisedly). And when the business mandate finally kicks in, tens of millions more probably will lose their plans.
Ah, but they’ll get better ones!
That appears to be the new rationalization for Obama’s bait-and-switch. “Right now all that insurance companies are saying is, ‘We don’t meet the requirements under Obamacare, but we’re going to offer you a better deal!’” explained Juan Williams on Fox News Sunday.
A better deal according to whom? Say I like my current car. The government says under some new policy I will be able to keep it and maybe even lower my car payments. But once the policy is imposed, I’m told my car now isn’t street-legal. Worse, I will have to buy a much more expensive car or be fined by the IRS. But, hey, it’ll be a much better car! Why, even though you live in Death Valley, your new car will have great snow tires and heated seats.
This is what the government is saying to millions of Americans who don’t want or need certain coverage, including, for instance, older women — and men — who are being forced to pay for maternity care. Such overcharging is necessary to pay for the poor and the sick signing up for Obamacare or for the newly expanded Medicaid.
At least Darth Vader was honest about his bait-and-switch: “I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.” Obama won’t even admit he lied.
At the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Obama talked at great length about the middle class and not once about the poor. His critics on the right said he was lying, that he was really more interested in income distribution. Such charges were dismissed as paranoid and even racist. But the critics were right. Obama was lying either to himself or to the rest of us — because he was playing the game to win.
— Jonah Goldberg is the author of The Tyranny of Clichés, now on sale in paperback. You can write to him by e-mail at [email protected], or via Twitter @JonahNRO. © 2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc. | – The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog does its thing with President Obama's much-criticized claim that "if you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan, period." The verdict? Four Pinocchios, which happens to be the max. Though he might have been forgiven for such a grand proclamation while the bill was still being drafted, the president continued to make the claim even once the law had been signed and its potential impact on insurance plans was clear, writes Glenn Kessler. Further, the law's design purposefully quashes "substandard" plans that the Americans on them certainly might like, in no small part because they can be cheap. So Kessler amends the president's infamous line: "If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan—if we deem it to be adequate." Other pundits are also weighing in: What Obama "meant was you can keep it if he likes it," echoes Holman Jenkins in the Wall Street Journal. The bottom line, for Jenkins: "He wants you to pay for coverage you'll never use (mental-health services, cancer wigs, fertility treatments, Viagra) so the money can be spent on somebody else." "The GOP outrage about Americans supposedly 'losing' coverage is largely just more of the same old misdirection," writes Greg Sargent in the Washington Post. "It’s a subset of a larger Republican refusal to have an actual debate about the law’s tradeoffs—one in which the law’s benefits for millions of Americans are also reckoned with in a serious way." Jonah Goldberg says Obama's statement "looks like the biggest lie about domestic policy ever uttered by a US president." The question, writes Goldberg at National Review Online, is whether "he was simply 'playing to win' and therefore lying on purpose" or whether he actually believed his own spin. "The president's message about his signature law has always been: It gets better, I promise," writes John Dickerson at Slate. "That was always an uphill battle. The benefits of the law were strung out over time, making it harder for people to recognize a payoff. 'Trust me' claims clash with people's mistrust of politicians and government programs." | [
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